Prepare for Flooding: Climate Change’s Growing Threat

(Article originally written in 2015, updated in 2018 after Hurricane Harvey, updated 2024 after Hurricane Helene.)

~3,000 words, 15 minutes read time.

In a previous post on extreme weather and flooding we learned that human-caused climate change is driving the increase in big storms and flooding, not just in the U.S., but around the world. People are dying, and more lives and property are at increased risk.

The recent devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene serves as a stark reminder of the increasing threat of extreme weather events. On September 25, 2024, Helene made landfall on the Florida coast as a Category-4 hurricane, before unleashing catastrophic flooding across the southeastern United States, with western North Carolina bearing the brunt of its fury.

Over a three-day period from September 25 to 27, Helene dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on the Mountain region of North Carolina. Some areas received more than 18 inches of rainfall, with the Mount Mitchell ECONet station recording a staggering 24.4 inches. The deluge caused rivers to swell to record levels, surpassing even the historic flood of 1916 that had long been the benchmark for flooding in the region.

The impact was devastating. The storm’s aftermath left a trail of destruction, with roads underwater, widespread power outages affecting over 700,000 customers, whole towns were wiped off the map, and tragically, there were hundreds of fatalities.

As climate change continues to intensify, storms like Helene are becoming more frequent and severe. The rapid intensification of Hurricane Helene over the warming waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its massive size, and the unprecedented rainfall amounts are all consistent with the effects of a warming climate. (And as this article is updated, ANOTHER major hurricane is bearing down on the west coast of Florida in less than a month! Hurricane Milton.)

Understanding this growing threat and knowing how to prepare can make a crucial difference in protecting your family and property.

Some important questions to ask, include…

• What is the link between climate change and flooding?
• What are the health risks from extreme precipitation and flooding?
• How can we prepare?
• What do we do if we get flooded?
• Summing it all up

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 Linking climate change and flooding

The link between climate change and flooding is clear. As we burn fossil fuels, we release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas traps heat, warming our planet. Warmer air can hold more moisture. Warmer air also means more energy for storms. More moisture and more energy lead to more intense precipitation. The result? Overwhelmed drainage systems and natural waterways, causing more frequent and intense floods.

The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee reported substantial economic impact of flooding in the United States, estimating annual costs between $179 and $496 billion in 2023 dollars. This figure includes direct property damage, indirect economic losses, and intangible costs such as health impacts and environmental degradation.

The report emphasizes that these costs are likely to increase due to climate change, with flood-prone areas expected to grow by 45% by 2100. It also notes significant disparities in flood risk and recovery, with low-income and minority communities often bearing a disproportionate burden.

There is also a significant underinsurance problem in the U.S., evident in the fact that only one in six US households has flood insurance, resulting in large annual losses that are not covered. And in many flood prone areas, the cost of insurance is becoming unaffordable for most people, if they can even get the insurance.

These are not arcane computer model predictions, but real, current events leading to human suffering and huge economic losses — directly observed evidence of climate change that is happening today, and getting worse.

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What are the health consequences of extreme precipitation and flooding?

Floods bring immediate and long-term health risks. In the short term, you face dangers of drowning, traumatic injuries from debris, and exposure to contaminated water. Long-term effects can include waterborne diseases, property loss, and mental health challenges. Children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing health conditions are particularly vulnerable to these risks.

Floods injure and drown people, but there are also many health risks after the water goes away. Flood waters contain a toxic mix of sewage, petroleum, chemicals, and other nasty things. After the water recedes, a thick poisonous muck is left behind. Drinking water sources can be contaminated and mold grows in the walls of flooded buildings. These are the dramatic and obvious effects of a flood, but there are also long-term and indirect impacts on people’s well-being. Some of the indirect health impacts of flooding include…

• disease
• long-term disability
• property loss
• job loss
• anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress

To quote this paper, “During floods, females, elderly and children appear to be at greater risk of psychological and physical health effects, while males between 10 to 29 years may be at greater risk for mortality (death). Post-flood, those over 65 years and males are at increased risk of physical health effects, while females appear at greater risk of psychological health effects. Other risk factors include previous flood experiences, greater flood depth or flood trauma, existing illnesses, medication interruption, and low education or socioeconomic status.”

   Health hazards immediately BEFORE and DURING the flood

Heart attacks and other injuries increase before the flood due to people over exerting themselves by filling sandbags and doing other strenuous work.

Health impacts during flooding include: drowning, trauma from flood debris, getting trapped in vehicles, and medical conditions made worse by disruption of routines and heavy exertion.

Some of the less obvious impacts include electrocution, carbon monoxide poisoning, and burns. Carbon monoxide poisoning and burns happen due to people using generators, gas stoves and portable kerosene heaters inside for power and heat after the grid goes down.

Some other risk factors for death or injury during a flood, include: drinking alcohol or being drunk during a flood; wading into flooded waters; attempting to rescue others in flooded areas; and driving a car in a flooded area –unless you were using that car to evacuate the flood area, in which case it was protective.

Often water supply contamination and gastrointestinal illness occur from early flooding.  The first thing that happens from an inundation of flood water is that storm sewers back up, water treatment plants are adversely affected, and drinking water sources are contaminated.

The group at highest risk for death include males in the 10 to 29 year range, mostly due to risk taking behavior. Females have the higher risk of psychological problems, such as PTSD and anxiety.

   Health hazards AFTER the flood

Some might downplay the mental health risks of surviving a natural disaster, but they are real and becoming more widespread. Here are a few quotes from survivors of Hurricane Sandy that might change your mind…

• A 5-year-old girl who was pulled from floodwaters clinging to her father hasn’t been able to attend kindergarten since the storm, Zagor said, because she’s too traumatized to be parted from him now.
• An 11-year-old boy is working with counselors after floating in water up to his neck on the second floor of his home for several hours before being rescued.”This child has said he worries about rain,” Zagor said. “He worries about whether he’ll ever want to swim in a swimming pool again.”
• “I have days that I can’t put a thought together. Like you start talking and you forget what you’re saying,” said Van Houten, who sleeps just two or three hours on a good night nowadays. “And the numbness, like you look at things that are happening around you, but you’re not part of it.”
• “I have anxiety over it. Even when I lay down at night I feel my heart palpitating with the loss of everything,” said Stenquist, whose home was destroyed. “I was there for 20 years.”

[Quotes from “Mental health toll emerges among Sandy survivors”, Associated Press, 15Dec2012, http://news.yahoo.com/mental-health-toll-emerges-among-sandy-survivors-145437336.html]

There are many other hazards after a flood.  Contact with flood waters or participating in flood clean-up increases the risk of diarrhea. Having a preexisting medical condition results in worsening health, and risk of reduced or stopped taking of prescription medications. Outbreaks of shigella, norovirus and dengue are also increased. Dengue is important because climate change is expected to increase the range of mosquito-borne diseases as the world warms, and post-flood areas are often water logged, creating new breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

And last, but important to our discussion here… preparing for flooding disasters in advance, through investing in insurance or other measures, has been shown to reduce the physical and psychological impacts in the aftermath of flooding.

Here’s the bottom line…

• Poor people have bad outcomes because they don’t have the resources to avoid the worst
• Males have a higher risk of dying due to risk taking behaviors
• Females have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and PTSD
• Young children, the elderly, and those with a chronic disease (e.g. heart disease, lung disease, etc) have a higher chance of getting sick or sicker
• People who prepare in advance have better outcomes!

Do you fit into one or more of these categories?  It’s hard to imagine anyone who doesn’t fit into at least one.

Fortunately, we can all fit into the last category, that’s what this blog is all about.

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How can we prepare for the worst?

To protect yourself and your loved ones, take these essential steps:

1. Review Your Insurance: Most standard homeowners’ policies don’t cover flood damage. Contact your insurance provider to understand your coverage and consider purchasing separate flood insurance.

2. Document Your Belongings: Create a detailed inventory of your possessions. Take photos or videos of valuable items and store this documentation in multiple secure locations, including cloud storage.

3. Develop an Emergency Plan: Establish a communication strategy with your family. Prepare a “bug-out bag” containing essential supplies for at least seven days. Keep your vehicle well-maintained and fueled in case you need to evacuate quickly.

   Check your insurance coverage

Most renter and homeowner policies specifically do NOT cover flooding. They will cover water damage that comes from the top down (e.g. roof leaks, plumbing breaks), but not water damage from the ground up, such as, from flooding due to extreme rain or hurricanes. So just to see where I was with my own coverage I called my insurance company. Turns out that I already have coverage for flooding. The agent told me that this is not the usual industry practice. The agent also informed me that if you own a house, the flood insurance is usually a separate policy. The cost of course depends how prone your area is to flooding.

Check out these tools to help you figure out your risk of flooding where you live…

• 30 great tools to determine your flood risk in the U.S.
  • Instead of reinventing the wheel, Climate Central has collated the best 30 flood risk tools in one blog post! They include the next site, the FEMA site, which I left here to make a few points…
• FEMA Flood Maps
  • This site is not easy to find or use, but it’s probably the source of data for the other sites.
  • Of note… I would bet that the FEMA flood maps were outdated for the risks that were faced by North Carolina. One thing that I know for sure now, is that living in mountainous terrain is not necessarily a safe place when extreme precipitation, or snow melt, is in the cards. I remember Boulder, Colorado surviving extreme flooding ten years ago or so, after heavy snowfall followed by rapidly warming temperatures.

 

CAUTION! Flood risk maps are based on historical data. In a changing world of extreme weather these maps may no longer be accurate.

   Document your belongings and property!!

Another incredibly important aspect of preparing for floods, or any disaster for that matter, is documenting your belongings before anything happens. The best way to do that is to take pictures… lots of them.

Personally, every year or two I take photos of all of my major possessions. I then store those pictures in several locations, including my computer, on a thumb drive, and on-line. You can get a free google drive account that comes with 15 gigabytes of storage. If you have a gmail account already, then the G-drive is part of that. Just type “drive.google.com” into your browser, or click here. Apple’s iCloud is also a great place to automatically store your pictures. For whatever service you use, you should manage the permissions on the folder where your photos are kept so that only you and trusted family members can access it.

   Be prepared

Besides insurance, you need to be financially and physically prepared to weather the storm. We had an earlier post in this blog about financial preparedness. Beyond being well insured and financially prepared, you must be physically prepared.

Preparedness includes having a disaster plan for you and your family, keeping your car in good shape with a full tank of gas or fully charged battery during times of higher risk (during hurricane season, for example), having a bug out bag (or a bug-in bag) with all the necessary ingredients for 7 days of survival for all persons in your family.

Here are a few sites to help you make a plan…

• Make an emergency communication plan for your family from Ready.gov
• Flood safety from the American Red Cross (click on the tabs under the “Flood Safety” heading
• Contents of a basic disaster supply kit from Ready.gov

Most reputable sources will tell you that you need only 3 days worth of food and water, however, future CURRENT storms driven by climate change promise to be ARE real monsters. Seven days should be your bare minimum. Also, if you really want to get into preparedness, here’s a couple of sites I like…

• Mom With A Prep – good info about general household preparedness.
• City Prepping – a decent source of info. He keeps the politics out of it, and just gives solid advice. Also has an interesting YouTube channel, though with some sensational titling to his videos(!), which are still pretty good.
• A pretty good book to read, mostly for “bugging in” (stay and fight), is The Disaster Ready Home, by Creek Stewart.

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What to do if the worst happens?

Obviously, the first thing to do is be prepared to evacuate when the order comes. Or if you already know you are at extreme risk, better to leave early.

• Pay attention to weather reports and storm warnings.
• Make sure your bug-out bags are stocked and ready to go, or your bug-in supplies are stocked.
• Determine what valuable personal belongings you need to safeguard by relocating them, or taking them with you.
  • Taking a lot of valuable stuff could also weigh you down and increase your risk of robbery or loss on the road, so be sensible about how much you can take. The hard truth is you will likely not be able to take much with you.
• Make sure your family is up to speed on your emergency plan, and you contact friends and relatives outside of the impacted area to let them know your status.
• And finally, leave when the time comes, or if you are staying home, get ready to weather the storm.

Suppose the worst has happened. Your home is submerged or destroyed. Fortunately, you had a plan, your paid attention to local radio and TV warnings, you kept your gas tank full, and you left early with your bug out bag and got yourself and your family to safety. Depending on how bad it was, you may not be able to go home for a while. But eventually the water will receded, and you can finally go home to survey the damage. Now what?

The number one thing you can do when you get back to your home is to take LOTS of pictures. This helps with insurance claims and application for disaster assistance from FEMA. ALSO, you should have taken pictures BEFORE any disaster, as discussed above, so the insurance company will have the before and after. They will likely come to inspect the damage also, so be prepared to help them out.

 

Here’s some steps to take if your car is flooded…

• If you need to rent a car, get one quickly, maybe the first thing you do. Everyone else affected by the flooding will be doing the same thing, and car rental companies will run out quickly.
• Find your car. Lots of flooded cars will be towed as the water recedes.
• Take lots of pictures of the damage (sounding familiar by now?!)
• Contact your insurance company ASAP, and send them the pics
• To get your car fixed or replaced you need comprehensive coverage, not just liability coverage
• Your insurance company will likely want a look at your car, so follow their instructions for towing, etc.
• If the water was up to the engine it may be salvageable
• If the water was up to the dashboard it’s probably totaled/permanently destroyed, because all of the electronic components will be destroyed
• Don’t start the engine! That will suck water into the engine and make any damage worse. Wait for a mechanic to check it out.

 

Here are some of the steps to take if your home is flooded…

• Contact your insurance agent as soon as possible to get the ball rolling. Everybody else will be doing the same thing, so don’t delay.
• Take pictures of everything that’s damaged (hopefully you have pics from before the damage too!)
• Wear protective gear! Everything that’s flooded eventually has to come out and be thrown away. In the process of doing that work you need to protect yourself from the toxic muck and mold. So keep your skin covered and wear a high-quality respirator (like an N-95 mask. Maybe you have some leftover from the pandemic). Eye protection is probably a good idea too, and sturdy boots.
• Set-up fans to circulate air, and dehumidify if you can.
• Wet carpets are toast. Rip them up and toss them out. Submerged wood floors will likely buckle, and end up beyond repair.
• Cut and remove drywall and insulation to just above the level of flooding. Otherwise mold will grow behind walls.
• Clean hard surfaces with a bleach solution
• Get help from your insurance company or from FEMA (see below)

 

If your house is completely destroyed, what then?

• If you have flood insurance, contact your agent as soon as possible, if not sooner! Everyone else will be doing the same. (Don’t forget to take lots of pictures, right?!)
• Contact FEMA to see what assistance applies to you…
  • DisasterAssistance.gov offers one stop shopping for Federal Aid and many other resources
  • Or call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362)
• Other sources of help include…
  • Unemployment Benefits – if your place of work is damaged/destroyed
  • U.S. Small Business Administration disaster recovery loans
  • USDA loans for ranchers and farmers
  • State and Tribal disaster assistance programs (search for your state’s name and “disaster assistance”)
  • Also, if you’re a victim of flood or other disaster, you may be eligible for Federal and state tax breaks

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Here’s a quick review…

• More heat is retained in the atmosphere as more carbon dioxide is emitted
• More heat leads to more moisture and energy in the atmosphere
• More moisture and energy in the atmosphere causes extreme precipitation and flooding worldwide
• Preparation is key — get insurance, have a plan, make a bug-out bag, get your life in order
• Take lots of pictures BEFORE disaster strikes, and store them in multiple safe places
• Get out-of-town early before the ‘SHTF’
• Contact your insurance company early
• Take lots of pictures of your damaged property
• Apply for emergency aid as soon as possible, from as many sources as possible

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Thank you for reading.
Have you lived through a disaster? Did you follow any of the steps above? What was your experience like? Please comment below.
And as always… the final responsibility rests with you — get informed, take action, be prepared.