Flooding

essay

Resilience and Adaptation Strategies Can Address the Impacts of Climate Change

With climate change already generating storms, heat waves, and droughts beyond historical norms, local governments need to do more to prepare. A decisionmaking framework developed by RAND allows communities to stress-test ideas, weigh the trade-offs, and plan for a range of possible futures.

commentary

Why Houstonians Didn't Buy Flood Insurance

Thousands of Houston-area homeowners will face massive, uninsured losses due to flood damage. Few homeowners buy flood insurance unless they are required to, and it's only mandatory for homes with mortgages located in FEMA-defined high-risk flood zones. People tend to ignore low-probability risks.

Lloyd Dixon, Noreen Clancy

commentary

Why Engineers Need to Be Thinking About Climate Change

As sea levels rise and extreme weather events become more common, evacuation routes in coastal areas will become more important. Transportation engineers need to be more proactive as they try to anticipate damage to transportation infrastructure assets such as pavement, bridges, and culverts.

Kenneth Kuhn

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Hurricane Katrina: 10 Years After the Storm

This weekend marks 10 years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. As the region struggled to cope and rebuild after the storm, RAND experts worked on solutions to the region's long-term challenges.

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Future of Coastal Flooding

President Obama's executive order that directs federal agencies to plan and build for higher flood levels as they construct new projects in flood-prone regions will affect hundreds of billions of dollars of future public works projects. In an ideal world, planners would estimate the benefits and costs for each project, taking into account everything from the details of the local landscape to the potential for adaptive responses over time.

Debra Knopman, Robert J. Lempert @RobertLempert, et al.

commentary

A Year After Sandy, a New Threat to New York City

As residents continue to recover from Superstorm Sandy, they are about to confront dramatic changes in the flood insurance landscape. Changes to federal floodplain maps will mean thousands of New Yorkers will suddenly be living in areas designated as high-risk flood, which will send their insurance rates soaring.

Lloyd Dixon

blog

In Brief: Jordan R. Fischbach on Adapting to Climate Change on the Coast

Jordan Fischbach discusses how RAND helped Louisiana develop its 2012 Coastal Master Plan and key lessons that can make other communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.

Jordan R. Fischbach

commentary

In Wake of Hurricane Sandy, Look to Louisiana for Lessons

Just as public agencies across the country conducted terrorism risk assessments in the wake of 9/11, a comprehensive infrastructure assessment may be in order to understand natural hazard risks and the potential exacerbating effects of climate change, write Gary Cecchine, David Groves, and Jordan Fischbach.

Gary Cecchine @GaryCecchine, David G. Groves, et al.

commentary

Has the Gulf Coast Learned Katrina's Lessons in Time for Isaac?

Seven years after Hurricane Katrina, it's clear that New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf Coast are applying what they learned then in preparation for Hurricane Isaac, write Gary Cecchine and Jordan R. Fischbach.

Gary Cecchine @GaryCecchine, Jordan R. Fischbach

commentary

A Flood of Innovation: Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan

RAND President and CEO Michael Rich writes about how RAND computer models and empirical analyses are helping protect and restore the Louisiana coast.

Michael D. Rich @michaeldrich

commentary

Storms Blow, But We Can Cut Losses

Published commentary by RAND staff.

Charles Meade