Flooding Archives

Indian commuters travel in a truck to a safer place as flood waters ravage the National Highway 47 in the Ernakulam district of Kochi, in the Southern Indian state of Kerala, on August 16th, 2018. According to the BBC, the death toll from floods in Kerala rose to over 100 on August 16th as torrential rainfall threatened new areas.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: Monsoon Floods Engulf Southern India

Indian commuters travel in a truck to a safer place as flood waters ravage the National Highway 47 in the Ernakulam district of Kochi, in the Southern Indian state of Kerala, on August 16th, 2018.

Pacific Standard Staff

The small island of Koh, surrounded by coral reef in Raja Ampat, located in eastern Indonesia's Papua region.

Environment

Coral Reef Loss Could Cost Countries Billions

According to a recent study, losing just the top three feet of coral reef could result in $4 billion a year in flood-related damages.

Matthew O. Berger

On Jaluit Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, the highest elevation is just 10 feet above sea level.

Environment

Atoll Islands May Become Uninhabitable a Century Earlier Than We Thought

Long before low-lying islands are swallowed by sea level rise, wave-related flooding could contaminate their freshwater resources.

Kate Wheeling

Environment

A Developer Wants to Build Hundreds of Homes in a Houston Floodplain

The Houston City Council approved a developer's plan to build hundreds of homes in a floodplain. But future flooding is all but inevitable.

Rebecca Worby

Floodwater covers a street sign on May 4th, 2017, in Fenton, Missouri.

Environment

Levee Wars: How a Secretive Lobbying Group Is Working to Subvert Flood Regulations

A Lobbying group in Illinois is weakening regulations from the Army Corps of Engineers that prevents towns from building levees that harm their neighbors.

Lisa Song, Patrick Michels & Alex Heeb

Flooded homes are shown near Lake Houston following Hurricane Harvey on August 30th, 2017, in Houston, Texas.

Environment

Just How Many Americans Are at Risk for a 100-Year Flood?

A new report shows that FEMA's flood hazard maps may be dangerously outdated.

Michael Isaac Stein

Children play in an Asunción neighborhood on January 22nd, 2018, that was flooded when the Paraguay River overflowed its banks due to heavy rains. The flooding has affected more than 18,000 people in the Paraguayan capital in the past week.

Environment

Viewfinder: Flooding in Paraguay

Children play in an Asunción neighborhood on January 22nd, 2018, that was flooded when the Paraguay River overflowed its banks due to heavy rains.

Pacific Standard Staff

A worker at an emergency cholera treatment center gets her shoes disinfected in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on January 18th, 2018. The World Health Organization said this week that there was a high risk of a cholera epidemic after flooding in the area.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: Cholera Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

A worker at an emergency cholera treatment center gets her shoes disinfected in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on January 18th, 2018.

Pacific Standard Staff