flooding

FEMA says its new rates better reflect the risk from more intense and frequent rain and floods. The increase could make housing unaffordable for some in the most flood-prone areas.

An NPR investigation found that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sells a disproportionately high number of properties in flood zones, including more than 230 in South Florida.

Florida saw the highest number of HUD homes sold in floodplains, according to an NPR analysis of several years of data. The 529 homes reflect 12% of all of the sales HUD made in the state over several years.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development disproportionately sells homes in flood-prone areas — including Florida, NPR finds. Housing experts warn that this can lead to big losses for vulnerable families.

But neighborhoods 20 miles inland are starting to feel the impact, as the Atlantic Ocean’s higher elevation makes it harder for drainage canals to keep them dry.

Risk Rating 2.0 is the first change to the way the National Flood Insurance Program calculates premiums since the 1970s and represents the biggest shift since the program was founded in the 1960s.

The updated Pinellas County maps are the result of a coastal flood risk study started in 2012 and under review since 2018.

Tropical Storm Fred made landfall in Cape San Blas in the Florida Panhandle, and that area could receive up to a foot of rain. The greater Tampa Bay region could experience rain bands and dangerous rip currents.

No matter what, if any, role rising seas played in the collapse, there is no escaping the rising risks to Surfside and other coastal communities up and down the Florida coast.

The heaviest rain is expected immediately along the Gulf Coast from Tampa to Cedar Key, where an additional 3-4 inches are possible.

St. Petersburg faces the highest long-term projection of flooding days of any of the 15 cities in Florida cited by the report.

St. Petersburg currently sees about seven high-tide flood events per year. But in a decade, researchers expect that number to soar to 67 per year.