More Information About Hazards

Flooding is an overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry. Floods can happen during heavy rains, when ocean waves come on shore, when snow melts quickly, or when dams or levees break. Damaging flooding may happen with only a few inches of water, or it may cover a house to the rooftop. Floods can occur within minutes or over a long period, and may last days, weeks, or longer. Floods are the most common and widespread of all weather-related natural disasters.

Flash floods are the most dangerous kind of flood because they combine the destructive power of a flood with incredible speed. Flash floods occur when the ground cannot absorb heavy rainfall. They also occur when water fills normally dry creeks or streams or enough water accumulates for streams to overtop their banks, causing rapid rises of water in a short amount of time.

Coastal floods, or the inundation of land areas along the coast, are caused by higher-than-average high tide and worsened by heavy rainfall and onshore winds (i.e., wind blowing landward from the ocean). Many coastal towns experience impacts from shallow coastal flooding several times a year because of coastal development and lower elevation. See UCS report .

Storm surge is an abnormal rise in water level in coastal areas, over and above the regular astronomical tide, caused by forces generated from a severe storm's wind, waves, and low atmospheric pressure. Although storm surge is mainly caused by strong winds, there are other factors influencing the height of the surge such as the storm’s track, its size and speed, and the shape of the ocean floor near shore (the local nearshore bathymetry).

Storm surge is extremely dangerous because it is capable of flooding large coastal areas. Extreme flooding can occur in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up to 20 feet or more in some cases. Along the coast, storm surge is often the greatest threat to life and property from a hurricane.

Storm surge by itself can cause extreme flooding in coastal areas; however, flooding intensity is worsened when the storm surge coincides with high tide. This combination of storm surge and high tide is called storm tide.

The destructive effects of storm surges on the coast are amplified during hurricanes due to increased wind speed. As sea levels continue to rise, the frequency of storm surge flooding events is expected to increase due to the higher base water level.

Mean sea level rise is an increase in the level of the world’s oceans due to climate change.

The oceans absorb much of the heat from the atmosphere, and as water becomes warmer, it expands. Land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets, are melting at an accelerated rate in comparison to the ice replenished during cold months, adding water to the ocean.

Although the mean sea level is rising globally, including along the Gulf Coast, regional effects cause the mean sea level to remain constant or even decrease in other parts of the planet.

Mean sea level rise poses a serious threat to coastal populations. Storm surges and waves can be larger due to higher base levels, increasing the frequency of flooding events. This also increases the range of storm surge, allowing it to reach further inland and affect areas that are not normally affected by storm surge flooding events.

Scientists have observed past and present mean sea level changes using sea level measurements mainly from tide gauges and satellite altimeters. Future projections of mean sea level are obtained from global models that account for different scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. A “high climate change scenario” leads to more warming, resulting in higher mean sea level rise. In contrast, a “moderate climate change scenario” implies a lower rate of mean sea level rise.

Wind occurs when there are differences in air pressure, always moving from a location with high pressure to one with relatively lower pressure. Wind speed depends on two factors: (a) the pressure difference between two areas, and (b) and the distance between those two areas. Stronger winds occur the higher the pressure difference and/or the closer the areas of high/low pressure. Wind speed is usually expressed in miles per hour or knots.

The direction from which the wind is blowing is used to describe the wind. For example, “westerly” winds blow from the west. The wind events in HazardAware are non-hurricane, and non-tornadic wind events (i.e., mostly thunderstorm winds).

These events are generally winds associated with (severe) thunderstorms and strong enough wind can damage shingles, cause branches to fall on roofs, and cause debris to be picked up from the ground, damaging homes and injuring people.

Natural hazards can damage the structure of a building and lead to loss of the contents – and even loss of lives – inside. Damage caused by natural hazards can range from minor to extreme. Intensifying hazard conditions are often challenging to predict; your home should be prepared ahead of these hazards before it is too late. All it takes is one dangerous hazard event, and your home, if not ready for the conditions, could be destroyed.

Preparing for natural hazards means taking several steps. There are immediate, short-term, and long-term things you can do to protect your home.

Knowing your risks or being “HazardAware” is the first step in being hazard ready. It’s important to look at risks from different perspectives:

• Past hazard history (or hazard threat) tells you what is likely to occur in the future.
• Severity of consequences (high, moderate, or low) tells you what likely impacts you may see on lives and property at any given location.
• Vulnerability assessment (what and who is being threatened) can make you more aware of those hazards that have a potential to impact your home or family in the future.

There are several different types of insurance you can purchase for your home and property, but not all cover damage from natural hazards. For example, homeowners’ insurance does not cover damage from floods. The coverage of damage from other natural hazards varies highly between insurers, states, and the type of natural hazard (called “peril” in insurance terms).

If you can afford it, always purchase flood insurance, especially if you live in an urban area. If you are a homeowner, do not rely on your mortgage company to determine the need for purchasing flood insurance. If you are a renter, flood insurance can cover your personal possessions. Flooding occurs frequently outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (also known as the 100-year floodplain, which has a better than 1 in 4 chance of flooding during a 30-year mortgage), and everyone should have flood insurance.

For real estate agents .

Make a family plan (where to go, what to take, who to call) and pack an emergency kit . Include essentials (medications, documents, money, food, clothing, and hygiene products). Consider the needs of the elderly, sick, young, and your pets (e.g., oxygen, diapers, baby food, insulin, pet supplies). For older adults, the National Council on Aging has created an Emergency Preparedness for Older Adults guide.

Depending on the type of emergency you are facing, you may have more or less time to prepare. Some natural hazards may give you several days’ warning, while other situations might call for an immediate evacuation. Planning is vital to making sure that you can evacuate quickly and safely, no matter what the circumstances are.

Prepare for evacuating :

• Plan how you will leave and where you will go if you are advised to evacuate.
• Identify several places you could go in an emergency such as a friend’s home in another town or a motel. Choose destinations in different directions so that you have options during an emergency.
• If needed, identify a place to stay that will accept pets . Most public shelters allow only service animals.
• Be familiar with alternate routes and other means of transportation out of your area.
• Come up with a family/household plan to stay in touch in case you become separated; have a meeting place and update it depending on the circumstance.
• Assemble supplies that are ready for evacuation. Prepare a “go-bag” you can carry when you evacuate on foot or public transportation and supplies for traveling longer distances if you have a car.
• If you have a car:
  • Keep a full tank of gas if an evacuation seems likely. Keep a half tank of gas in it at all times in case of an unexpected need to evacuate. Gas stations may be closed during emergencies and unable to pump gas during power outages. Plan to take one car per family to reduce congestion and delay.
  • Make sure you have a portable emergency kit in the car .
• If you do not have a car, plan how you will leave if needed. Decide with family, friends, or your local emergency management office to see what resources may be available.
• Download the FEMA app for a list of open shelters during an active disaster in your local area.

Keep the roof on and the water out of your home by focusing on the “5 Ss”: shingles, soffits, seals, shutters, and surroundings.

Shingles: Use roofing cement to better adhere shingles. This project is only needed for shingles that are not wind rated types (such as Class F, G or H) that were installed according to manufacturer high-wind instructions. (When reroofing, be sure to specify a high wind-rated roofing system and reinforce the decking with ring shank nails.)

• Use one 11 oz. tube per 25 feet of shingles.
• Focus on shingles near the roof edges and near gable ends.
• Place three 1-inch diameter dabs under each shingle tab (near the edges).
• On gable ends, secure the three shingle tabs closest to the gable edge.
• Do this at least two weeks in advance of a storm to allow the cement to adhere properly.

Soffits: Polyurethane sealant and stainless-steel screws can secure soffits under the roof overhang.

• Apply sealant along the joint between the edge of the soffit channel and the wall.
• Install sharp pointed stainless-steel screws through the fascia and channels so that they connect the soffit material.
• Apply sealant in the grooves where the fascia material butts up against the fascia and wall channel.
• When replacing soffits, select rigid materials (such as plywood or fiber cement) and fasten to framing at least every 12 inches.

Seals: Keep water and wind out

• Sandbag your doors.
• Use silicone caulk and seal to seal holes where wires, cables and pipes enter and exit the house, including all the way around electrical boxes and circuit breaker panels.
• Seal pipe penetrations in walls and all cracks around wall outlets, dryer vents, bathroom and kitchen vents and electrical devices such as wall lights.
• Use polyurethane sealant and stainless-steel screws to secure soffits (under the roof overhang).

Shutters: Keep water and wind out

• Install storm shutters to reduce wind pressure and protect against flying debris.

Surroundings: Reduce flying debris

• Replace gravel landscaping materials with soft mulch.
• Trim trees, remove dying trees and branches.
• Secure yard objects or prepare storage space for them.

See Louisiana AgCenter "5 Best Hurricane Preps" .

Long-term steps you can take to protect your home:

• Install or elevate appliances above the possible flood level (including your water heater, air conditioner compressor, etc.).
• Secure outside appliances to sturdy platforms or elevated concrete pads with metal strapping.
• Install windows, garage doors, and entry with high wind design pressure ratings.
• Choose ceramic or porcelain tile or brick flooring with water-proof mortar, decorative concrete finishes, or interlocking solid vinyl flooring tiles with no adhesive that can be removed after a flood to let the slab or subfloor dry, then be re-installed.
• Choose building materials such as pressure-treated woods, fiber-cement, or paperless drywall.
• Select shingles that have a wind class rating greater than the wind speed risk in your location.
• Ensure your roofing installers precisely follow the manufacturer’s high-wind installation instructions, including the specialized starter strip (instead of using flipped or trimmed shingles as a starter).
• Install a hurricane rated ridge vent, such as a TAS 100(A) tested product, combined with well attached. Sturdy soffit vents are recommended.

See Louisiana AgCenter "Make your life and home more resilient before the next storm" .

Managing Your Home Flooding:

Mold begins to grow on materials that stay wet longer than two or three days. The longer mold grows, the greater the health hazard and the harder it is to control.

Surface mold can be effectively cleaned from nonporous materials (e.g., glass, metal, or solid wood). Disinfectants only remove surface mold, but do not kill spores on porous surfaces such as drywall made from paper.

See Mold remediation after flooding (Mold removal guidelines from Louisiana AgCenter).

Managing your Stress and Mental Health:

Disasters often leave people, especially children and teens, feeling frightened, confused, and insecure. Help yourself and others cope with emotions and disaster stress by:

• Making time and supporting each other
• Encouraging dialogue
• Answering questions
• Keeping a routine
• Limiting media exposure
• Seeking out disaster/crisis counseling
• Utilizing case management resources

Warning Signs of Excessive Stress (signs that last for more than 2 to 4 weeks) :

• Rapid heart rate, palpitations, muscle tension, headaches, tremors, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, inability to relax when off duty, trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, nightmares or flashbacks
• Strong negative feelings
• Fear or terror in life-threatening situations or perceived danger, anger, frustration, argumentativeness, irritability, deep sadness, difficulty maintaining emotional balance
• Difficulty thinking clearly
• Disorientation or confusion, difficulty problem-solving and making decisions, difficulty remembering instructions, inability to see situations clearly, distortion and misinterpretation of comments and events
• Increased use or misuse of prescription drugs or alcohol
• Irritability, anger and hostility, blaming, reduced ability to support teammates, conflicts with peers or family, withdrawal, isolation

Managing your exposure to toxic materials during cleanup:

During cleanup, you should pay attention to toxic materials that may be in your home or in debris from neighboring buildings. These include cleaning products, herbicides and pesticides, and other chemicals that are used around the home. For homes built before 1978, toxic materials could also include lead and asbestos, which were used in buildings before 1978. Lead was used in paint and pipes, and asbestos was used in insulation.

If you have lead or asbestos in your home, you will need to use safe work practices to remove and dispose of them. More information is here (https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/kkramer/articles/page1471624895743) or at the EPA's websites on lead (https://www.epa.gov/lead) and asbestos (https://www.epa.gov/asbestos).

A helpful guide on Asbestos and Natural Disasters by Asbestos.com .

More information on post-disaster clean-up .

Resilient communities are defined as societies which are structurally organized to minimize the effects of disasters, for example by providing mutual aid and assistance to community members. At the same time, these communities have the ability to recover quickly by restoring the socioeconomic vitality of the community.

Social vulnerability measures an area’s general capacity to prepare for, respond to, and rebound from environmental shocks and stresses (like disasters). Places that have high vulnerability have a lower capacity to “bounce back” after natural hazards and other events.

Residential building codes specify minimum standards for the construction of buildings. Every jurisdiction and/or state adopts their own residential building code. Building codes are critical to force developers and builders to incorporate minimum safety standards that make your home more hazard-resilient.

Minimum regulations for one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes were first developed in 2005 by the International Residential Code (IRC) and are revised on a 3-year cycle. The IRC is known for incorporating minimum safety standards such as elevating homes (freeboard).

Some states, such as Texas, do not have a state-wide minimum building code in place. Older homes are often not up-to-code unless they have undergone major permitted remodeling.

Do you know if your home is up to code? Stronger building codes make homes more resilient to natural hazards.

Building codes change over time. To find out whether your house is up to the most recent code: https://inspecttoprotect.org

The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary program that rewards communities that take part in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) which implement stronger floodplain management activities than those required by the NFIP. Communities earn points for activities related to public information, mapping and regulations, flood damage reduction, and warning and response. For every 500 points earned, communities gain a 5% premium reduction on NFIP policies for residents within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). Lower discounts are available for residents outside the SFHA.

National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System | FEMA.gov (General information and links to the 2017 CRS Coordinator’s Manual and 2021 Addendum)

Community Rating System (fema.gov) (Local Officials’ Guide to the CRS)

Small Communities and the Community Rating System (crsresources.org) (Guidance for smaller communities participating in the CRS)

CRS Users Groups are made up of floodplain managers, permit officials, building officials, engineers, planners, etc. who implement CRS programs for their communities. These groups meet regularly to share best practices, participate in trainings, and design and implement multi-jurisdictional activities.

CRS Users Groups - CRSresources (for a list of CRS Users Groups around the country)

Floodhelp.uno.edu (Link to CRS Users Groups in Louisiana)

The purpose of the Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) is to help people understand how susceptible their local ecosystems are to harm. Specifically, the index assesses the vulnerability of the environment itself to both human and natural hazards. The EVI, in other words, takes into account what is happening around you, not what is happening to you as a resident.

This tool is currently being developed at the national level, summarized by county, to make it applicable for local use. We see the EVI as a tool for helping community planners shape decisions about how to make their regions more resilient.

Eventually, the EVI will be included in the “Knowing your Community" part of HazardAware. In highly urbanized areas, for instance, community members may feel disconnected from nature and not fully understand how the ecosystem they live in can make them more or less vulnerable to both natural and human caused hazards. Our hope is that by bringing this information to the communities, we can provide mechanisms by which citizens can truly embrace a sense of place and become empowered members of their community for resilient action.

The EVI provides a snapshot of ecosystem conditions at the county level. Concerned and empowered citizens can use this information to lobby their local policy-makers to suggest the best approaches for mitigation and restoration strategies in their communities. The EVI can provide information to start grassroots conservation initiatives and green infrastructure projects that can help increase the EVI score, which can thus help increase the resilient properties of communities.

This tool is currently being developed at the national level, summarized by county, to make it applicable for local use. We see the EVI as a tool for helping community planners shape decisions about how to make their regions more resilient.

Eventually, the EVI will be included in the “Knowing your Community" part of HazardAware. In highly urbanized areas, for instance, community members may feel disconnected from nature and not fully understand how the ecosystem they live in can make them more or less vulnerable to both natural and human caused hazards. Our hope is that by bringing this information to the communities, we can provide mechanisms by which citizens can truly embrace a sense of place and become empowered members of their community for resilient action.

The EVI provides a snapshot of ecosystem conditions at the county level. Concerned and empowered citizens can use this information to lobby their local policy-makers to suggest the best approaches for mitigation and restoration strategies in their communities. The EVI can provide information to start grassroots conservation initiatives and green infrastructure projects that can help increase the EVI score, which can thus help increase the resilient properties of communities.

Some states require sellers to submit certain disclosures when selling a home, and some of these include disclosures related to hazards. The best thing a buyer can do is ask direct questions. If you are working with a relator, ask about the disclosures available on properties you are interested in. Additionally, you can always request additional information from the seller before making purchasing decisions. A brief summary of the requirements in each Gulf state is listed below.

• Texas: Texas requires a Seller’s Disclosure Notice to be completed for every sale of single-unit residential property, including property that is sold “as-is.” Texas also requires a seller to disclose whether the property is within 1,000 feet of the Gulf of Mexico. This form contains multiple questions about the property condition including questions about natural hazards. It asks questions regarding present flood insurance, flooding due to a breached reservoir as in Houston during Harvey, water intrusion, and location in a floodplain. Texas provides detailed explanations on the form to aid in filling it out. The seller must disclose defects that he/she actually knows about and/or should know about. Additionally, a seller is required to continuously update disclosed information if there are changes in the circumstances that would make the prior disclosure misleading. For example, a seller may initially disclose that the property has never flooded which is true as of that date, but then it floods after. The seller must update the buyer on the fact that it flooded after the disclosure. A blank version of the form is available here: https://www.trec.texas.gov/forms/sellers-disclosure-notice.
• Louisiana: Louisiana requires that property condition disclosures be filled out by the seller for every sale of residential property, including property that is sold “as-is.” This form contains multiple questions about the property condition, including questions about natural hazards. It asks questions about flooding, water intrusion, drainage problems, location in a flood zone, and presence of flood insurance. While the form is required, the law is forgiving when it comes to sellers making honest mistakes in filling it out. The seller will not be considered at fault for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, as long as the seller did not have actual knowledge of the defect. A blank version of the form is available here: https://lrec.gov/forms/mandatory-forms/.
• Mississippi: Mississippi requires a property condition disclosure statement be completed for every sale of residential property, including property that is sold “as-is.” This form contains multiple questions about the property condition including questions about natural hazards. It asks questions like the history of water damage, standing rain-water issues, if the property is located in a flood zone, and if the property is required to have flood insurance. While the form is required, the law is forgiving when it comes to making honest mistakes in filling it out. The seller will not be considered at fault for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions as long as the seller did not have actual knowledge of the defect. A blank version of the form is available here: http://www.mrec.ms.gov/forms.html.
• Alabama: Alabama follows the “buyer beware” doctrine which places the responsibility of finding out the information on the buyer. There are a few exceptions to this doctrine, the most common being direct inquiry. If the buyer asks the seller a specific question about the condition of the property, the seller must answer it honestly as a form of disclosure. Alabama also has a voluntary disclosure statement that a seller may complete. This form asks general questions such as history of water intrusion, presence of pests, and location of easements that cross the land.
• Florida: Florida requires that the seller discloses anything that would decrease value of the property that is unknown and not apparent to the buyer. This protects a buyer from hidden defects but not obvious defects. Florida does not have a requirement for how the disclosure is made, whether it be oral or in writing. However, the Florida Realtors Association provides a voluntary disclosure form to help a seller disclose the necessary information. This form helps guide a seller by asking the most important questions about the property condition to cover all bases. Florida only requires a seller to disclosed effects that the seller actually knows about. Therefore, a seller is not obligated to disclose a defect that the seller should have known about if the seller did not actually know about it. The same is true if a seller uses a voluntary property condition disclosure form; the seller is only required to complete the form using what the seller actually knows.