This blog has moved - please note

This blog has moved to my new website:
http://www.floodriskadvisory.com/

Please visit the site for information and discussion of all things related to flooding risk.  All blog posts past and present will be included in the NEWS page on the site.

Thanks for your interest!

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Drainage features without mapped flood plains

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All drainage features whether natural or man-made have flood plains, which are simply the adjacent low areas that fill with water during periods of overflow.  Water overtopping the banks will move to all connected lower areas and remain until drained away by other features.  However, these areas may not be mapped as flood plains on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM).  As a result, residents and property owners may not realize that they are located in a flood zone. Although unmapped these areas will flood during times when the nearby drainage features overflow. This issue was featured in an April 1, 2018 front page article in the Houston Chronicle article entitled "Damage outside flood plain exposes flaws - 'We just need to start again,' says professor about maps designating flood-risk areas".  The article was written by David Hunn, Matt Dempsey, and Mihir Zaveri and can be viewed at the link below: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/In-Harvey-s-delug
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Example - how to evaluate flood risk for potential property purchase

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An article in the Houston Chronicle by Vanessa Brashier dated February 25, 2018 provides a case study for how a prospective property buyer could perform an initial evaluation of flooding risk.  The article is entitled "Liberty County community signals growth is ahead - Encino Estates offers country living and affordability north of Dayton." https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Liberty-County-community-signals-growth-is-ahead-12705439.php To begin the evaluation the prospective property buyer could easily perform two key steps from their home computer as follows: Step 1:  Locate property using Google Maps. In this example I entered the search term "maps encino estates liberty county, tx" and then clicked on the Directions tab on the featured listing as shown below.    The resulting map is shown in Figure 1. Encino Estates is a new development, so the actual area of the subdivision does not show up on the Streets map.
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Check these four critical risk factors before buying a home

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There are many things to consider when making the decision to purchase a home.  In low-lying coastal areas such as Houston the risk of flooding is a key factor.  An initial screening based on the four questions below can significantly improve the odds that the homeowner will avoid considerable trouble and expense in the future. 1.  Is the house in or near a flood plain? The flood plains are the areas where water accumulates outside of streams and water bodies in times of overflow.  These areas are at higher risk for flooding by definition.  The Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) prepared by FEMA show the locations of Floodways and Flood Plains and assign an Annual Percentage Chance Flood Hazard risk to the mapped zones.   However, these definitions are not always accurate predictors for whether or not any given property will flood.  In addition, the FIRMs may be out of date and not properly include increased risk for flooding from factors such as new development and more fre
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