In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey dumped over 50 inches of rain on the Houston area in just four days, obliterating earlier rainfall records.[1] Four years later, Tennessee experienced more than 20 inches of rain in 24 hours,[2] showing Harvey was not a one-off event. In 2024 alone, storms spawned catastrophic rainfall in North Carolina, Connecticut, New York, California, New Mexico, and other states, bringing flooding and mudslides in their wake.
Unfortunately, the severity and frequency of these extreme rainfall events is increasing, and with them, so is the flood risk to homes across the country. Wherever you live, it’s critical that you understand the specific risks in your area, your insurance coverage for precipitation events, and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your home.
Understand Your Home’s Flood Risk
The first step for protecting your property, your family, and your financial wellbeing is to understand the flood risk to your property. FEMA has maps showing historical flood risks and other tools to learn more about your home’s flood risk, ways to protect your home, and information about federal flood insurance.
Do You Need Flood Insurance?
Flooding is a major risk that’s not covered by standard homeowners insurance policies, yet it’s one of the more likely losses that you could experience in your lifetime. Even if you live in an area with low or moderate flood risk, it’s five times more likely that your home will flood than catch fire over the next 30 years.[6]
To cover this risk, you should consider purchasing flood coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program, which is backed by the U.S. government rather than private insurance companies. Even if you live in a community not usually impacted by flooding, or your mortgage doesn’t require a flood policy, you should consider it, as high precipitation events are expanding beyond usual geographic boundaries.
Protecting Your Home
Once you know what the likely risks are to your home and family, you can take steps to mitigate those threats.
Have sandbags on hand to divert rising water from your home.
Purchase a wet-dry vacuum to quickly remove floodwater.
Keep your car gassed up to at least half full at all times (in case you need to evacuate).
Maintain a supply of drinking water in case the public water supply is contaminated with storm runoff.
Follow instructions from Ready.gov or your state disaster preparedness agency to create stocks of batteries, flashlights, tarps, nonperishable foods, and other supplies.
For larger threats, like storm surges that can threaten coastal communities, you may need to retrofit your entire house. If you’re comfortable doing your own home improvement projects, you may be able to make some changes yourself. For example, FEMA has a free 200-page guide on protecting your home from flooding. But larger or more complex projects are likely best left to professionals.
If protecting your home is going to take a large financial investment, you may be able to use your home’s equity to pay for improvements. Talk to your mortgage loan officer to learn more!
Sources:
[1] National Weather Service, “Hurricane Harvey & Its Impacts on Southeast Texas (August 25-29, 2017).”
[2] Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Extreme Precipitation and Climate Change.
[3] First Street Foundation, “The 8th National Risk Assessment: The Precipitation Problem,” June 26, 2023.
[4] United States Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Indicators: Heavy Precipitation.
[5] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report Summary, 2021.
[6] Floodsmart.gov, “What’s Your Flood Risk?”