Risk awareness, flood safety tips part of Severe Weather Preparedness Week
If it rains where you live, it can flood where you live. That’s the message MSD Project Clear (MSDPC) has for St. Louis residents on Flood Safety Awareness Day, Friday, March 11, part of Missouri’s Severe Weather Preparedness Week 2022. Through its Know Your Zone program, MSDPC is empowering St. Louis residents to understand their flood risk and learn about the federal National Flood Insurance Program, which can protect property owners from the costs of overland flooding.
More common and destructive than any other kind of natural disaster in the United States, flooding causes more fatalities and more than $3.5 billion in damages each year. And the power of floodwaters can be felt everywhere; twenty percent of all flood insurance claims come from areas outside of high-risk flood zones. Compounding the problem, the average flood damage claim in the U.S. tops $35,000, but most homeowners’ insurance does not cover flood damage.
“Everyone in St. Louis lives in a flood zone,” MSD Project Clear Executive Director Brian Hoelscher said. “This means flooding is a risk for all of us, but people can protect their families and homes by going to KnowYourZone.org to learn about their flood zone and the flood insurance that can give them some peace of mind.”
Overland flooding can occur anywhere, anytime of year, even in areas where there are no nearby waterways. But these problems are more top-of-mind in Spring, when heavy rains and storms can quickly cause creeks, streams, and drainage ways to overflow and cause flooding. KnowYourZone.org shows the level of likelihood a property will flood during heavy precipitation events and has information about preferred risk insurance policies for residents in moderate-to-low risk flood zones.
Increasing flood risks are not unique to the St. Louis region and are part of a larger pattern. “The challenges posed by climate change, such as more intense storms, frequent heavy precipitation, heat waves, drought, extreme flooding and higher sea levels could significantly alter the types and magnitudes of hazards faced by communities,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency has said.
Flood Safety Tips:
- Know Your Zone, know your risk – Enter your address at msdprojectclear.org/floodmap to find your flood zone.
- Consider purchasing flood insurance – Most homeowners’ insurance does not cover flood damage, but every property in the St. Louis region sits in either a low-, medium-, or high-risk flood zone, and the average flood insurance claim is $35,000.
- Store important documents safely – save copies of birth certificates, passports, medical records, and insurance papers in a waterproof container.
- Clear debris from drains – Make sure you clear any debris from gutters, floor drains, window wells, and downspouts to avoid the accumulation of water.
- Turn around, don’t drown – Never walk, swim, or drive through floodwaters. It takes only six inches of fast-moving flood water to knock over an adult and only two feet of rushing water to float most vehicles.
“MSD Project Clear doesn’t manage overland flooding, nor do we have programs to cover damages associated with flooding,” Hoelscher said. “But customers often turn to us during floods and we encourage everyone to Know Your Zone to determine if flood insurance makes sense, either through the National Flood Insurance Program or an existing insurance policy.”
More information is available at KnowYourZone.org, and an interactive map of regional flood zones is at msdprojectclear.org/floodmap.