Data Discloses Flood Risk of Every Home in Contiguous U.S.
The nonprofit research and technology group First Street Foundation has publicly released flood risk data for more than 142 million homes and properties across the U.S. The data is based on decades of peer-reviewed research. It assigns every property in the contiguous U.S. a Flood Factor score from 1 to 10, based on its cumulative risk of flooding over a 30-year mortgage.
The model was developed by more than 80 of the world’s leading hydrologists, researchers and data scientists from First Street Foundation; Columbia University; Fathom; George Mason University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Rhodium Group; Rutgers University; The University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Bristol. Building upon their decades of peer-reviewed research and model outputs, as well as data from FEMA, the USGS, NOAA and other government agencies, the collaborators were able to create the country’s first publicly available comprehensive flood risk model.
The model identifies the likelihood of previous flooding by recreating 55 past hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters and major inland flooding events. A lack of disclosure laws in many states makes this information difficult or impossible to find. The model also calculates the current probability of tidal, storm surge, pluvial (rainfall) and fluvial (riverine) flooding for individual homes and properties.
In addition to current risk, future risk is calculated by incorporating anticipated environmental changes like sea-level rise, changing precipitation patterns, and warming sea surface and atmospheric temperatures.
