The Flood Insurance Guru Podcast Episode 24: Flash Flooding: What Can You Do About It?

When something happens in an instant or a flash of a moment, you want to be ready to react to it when being prepared is out of the picture. In today's episode, let's talk about flash flooding: what it is, when does it happen, and what can you do to fight a natural disaster like it.

Flash flooding is causing a lot of issues across the country almost every year. It can cause devastating damage to properties, livestock, livelihood, business, and overall way of living, and even worse sometimes they're irreparable.

We've seen in 2019 that majority of Alabama, Nebraska, and Oklahoma got a large amount of heavy rain in a short amount of time leading to sudden flooding. So, let's talk about why these areas weren't really protected by flood insurance when it comes to this type of flood and what you can do as a property owner yourself to prevent experiencing such a traumatic experience.

What is Flash Flooding?

First, it's important that we understand the definition of this type of flood. This is when a large amount of rain is received by an area for a short amount of time causing rapid water to rise. Now, it's important to note that this rapid water doesn't really last that long and can only stay for an hour maximum, but what causes the devastating effect to affected areas is due to drainage systems being overwhelmed by the water and it's not really able to handle that amount of rainfall in such a short period of time. This event then creates what we call "flash flooding" where there's not a lot of warnings and preparedness going on since the flood itself can happen in an instant.

Impacts of Flash Flood

Now, it's notable that most of the time, the areas and cities are considered to be low-risk flood zone are the ones who get impacted by flash floods. Being in a low-risk area generally means that the residents seldomly secure their flood insurance policy which really takes away their protection from natural disasters like this. Low-risk areas are the ones that generally experience flash flooding since there's only so much preparation for this type of flood you can do if you can prepare in the first place. It's also possible that flood mitigation projects in these areas aren't set up yet to react to this type of major flood.

Flash flooding is also becoming rampant across the country as counties that normally don't flood, experience a whole lot of headaches due to this. It's also important to take note of how seasons can impact flood events. Summer and Spring technically are storm seasons because of the collected water from the previous winter season and since this is also the time where storms and hurricanes start to move into the United States.

For example, the Spring season usually has major floods because of what we call a spring thaw where the snow and ice from the winter season start to melt and seep into the ground. This eventually causes bodies of water to rise, so if you would mix that with a few inches of rain on a single time even though short, you're going to get a flood event regardless and will sure to impact the lives of the residents impacted.

This is why it's so important to make sure that you have a flood insurance policy in place regardless if it's from the National Flood Insurance Program or the private flood market. This is important to have since flash flooding is really unpredictable and you want to make sure that at least you get to bounce back if you were to be hit by one.

If you have questions on the National Flood Insurance Program or the coverages for your standard flood insurance, flood mitigation projects you can do to prepare yourself and/or your city, or anything at all about flooding and preparing for severe storms, feel free to reach out to us by clicking the links below. We also post daily flood education videos over at our YouTube Channel.

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to share this knowledge with you, so you too can be ready when crap happens through flood education and awareness.