FEMA has released a list of all communities scheduled to have new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) go active during 2010. WARNING: the list isn’t particularly reader-friendly. I’d recommend downloading it, then doing a search for the name of your community in the document. If it appears, look at the top of the table on […]
Tag Archives | hazard identification
How Does Coastal Alabama's Risk Compare to Our Neighbors?
Posted on March 29, 2010
Great interactive map from the NOAA Coastal Services Center quickly tells you for any state: Population growth of the Coastal Flood Hazard Area (CFA) Percentage of people living in the CFA who are: Living below the poverty line Over 65 years old What percentage of the state’s total land area is within the Coastal Flood […]
New FIRMs Tested in Massachusetts
Posted on March 22, 2010
The Boston Globe has an interesting article on how the updated National Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) did in last week’s floods there. In a word: well. This wasn’t good news to many who were sure the the updates, which had designated their properties as high flood risk, were wrong. Some were even fighting to […]
National Hurricane Center Announces Changes
Posted on March 4, 2010
Straight from the National Hurricane Center press-release: Product Changes for the 2010 Hurricane Season’s Effective May 15, the National Hurricane Center will implement important changes in some of its text and graphical products. It will also make some additions to its Web site and experimental products. This is part of a continuing effort at the […]
NOAA Improves Forecasts for Coastal Flood Impacts
Posted on February 23, 2010
The National Weather Service has created a new way to help coastal decision makers better project damage from coastal flooding through an experimental forecast technique they’re calling the “Coastal Flood Nomogram”. Unlike some other models which rely solely on predicted damage from still water, the Coastal Flood Nomogram considers the combined effects of storm tides […]
Hurricane Center Takes Storm Surge Out of Intensity Categories
Posted on February 17, 2010
NOAA’s National Weather Service has just announced that it will use a new hurricane scale this season called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The new scale keeps the same wind speed ranges as the original Saffir-Simpson Scale for each of the five hurricane categories, but no longer ties specific storm surge and flooding effects to […]
COMMENTARY: Seven Years Too Long for Updated Flood Maps
Posted on February 5, 2010
From today’s Press-Register Commentary (here in its entirety): FEMA CONTINUES to neglect coastal Alabama by dawdling on compiling new flood maps. After Hurricane Katrina and later Hurricane Rita devastated coastal Mississippi and Louisiana in 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency made updated flood maps a priority for those states. In the aftermath of historic storm […]
New Flood Maps for Mobile, Baldwin Counties Delayed Until at Least 2012
Posted on February 2, 2010
The Press-Register is reporting that a state manager is reporting that the release of updated flood maps for Alabama coastal counties will be pushed back to 2012, and maybe even later. The maps were previously expected this year. Not good news for communities trying to plan safer development/redevelopment. “New flood maps for Mobile, Baldwin counties […]
National Hurricane Center to Provide Greater Lead Time in Watches and Warnings
Posted on January 13, 2010
A quick word from the NOAA National Hurricane Center: NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami will issue watches and warnings for tropical storms and hurricanes along threatened coastal areas 12 hours earlier than in previous years. According to NHC experts, advancements in track forecasts are making it possible for forecasters to provide greater lead time. […]
GIS Training (Mobile, AL: January 5th)
Posted on November 23, 2009
This from the fine folks at the Coastal States Organization: “On January 5 there will be a GIS training for coastal resource professionals in Mobile, Alabama on the Habitat Priority Planner. The tool is a geographic information system (GIS)-based tool used to make decisions about land use, conservation, and restoration. Different scenarios can be quickly […]