Floods cause more suffering and damage than any other U.S. natural disaster

Evidence

The flood problem in the United States has been described in the following terms by Overman, The Flood Peril and the Federal Flood Insurance Act of 1956 309 ANNALS. 98 (1957F … “Floods rank first among the causes of natural disasters in the United States if measured by the amount of human suffering and the expenditures for relief and rehabilitation for individuals and families. Moreover, if measured by the damage and destruction to the properties, facilities, and installations of industrial and commercial organizations, to say nothing of federal, state, and local governments and agriculture, flood peril would exceed all other natural causes of disaster, “The extent of the losses resulting from the flood peril may be highlighted by two recent examples. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1795

Categorization

• XREF: Factual anchor for environmental-justice discussion of land/place and disaster policy in the shared course threads. — connects to: Personal insurance pools natural-disaster risk because location barely affects injury odds — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1831; Postwar flood devastation reached record damage levels between 1950 and 1955 — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 686; Suburban sprawl created flood damage faster than engineered protections could counter — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 698

Broader Connections

• Suburban sprawl created flood damage faster than engineered protections could counter #expands (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 698
• Postwar flood devastation reached record damage levels between 1950 and 1955 #corroborates (0.72) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 686