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The First Street Foundation released a flooding risk report. FILE PHOTO: A view of flood damaged buildings are seen as U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) inspects the damage from Hurricane Ida on the Marine One helicopter during an aerial tour of communities in Laffite, Grand Isle, Port Fourchon and Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, U.S. September 3, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Pool/File Photo
U.S.

Report: 25% of all critical infrastructure under risk of flooding


About 25 percent of all critical infrastructure in the United States is at risk of becoming inoperable due to flooding, that’s according to a report released on Monday from the science and technology nonprofit First Street Foundation. The report, titled “The 3rd National Risk Assessment: Infrastructure on the Brink“, also takes a look at the flooding risk over a 30 year period for every city and county across the U.S.

“Further to this, 23 percent of all road segments in the country (nearly 2 million miles of road), are at risk of becoming impassable,” the foundation said in a press release. The foundation also said 20 percent of all commercial properties, 17 percent of all social infrastructure facilities, and 14 percent of all residential properties also have operational risk.

According to the report, flooding in the next 30 years could affect an additional:

  • 1.2 million residential properties (a 10 percent increase).
  • 66,000 commercial properties (a 7 percent increase).
  • 63,000 miles of roads (a 3 percent increase).
  • 6,100 pieces of social infrastructure (a 9 percent increase).
  • 2,000 pieces of critical infrastructure (a 6 percent increase).

The risk report comes after larges swaths of the eastern United States were hit by flooding brought by the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Perhaps most notably, Louisiana was hit by both Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas.

“As we saw following the devastation of Hurricane Ida, our nation’s infrastructure is not built to a standard that protects against the level of flood risk we face today, let alone how those risks will grow over the next 30 years as the climate changes,” First Street Foundation Executive Director Matthew Eby said.

According to the report, the area most at-risk to flooding in the U.S. is Cameron Parish in Louisiana. The state makes up six of the top 20 at-risk counties in the country. 11 of the remaining 14 counties are located in Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia.

“The United States is ill-prepared for the extreme weather now becoming common due to our changing environment, evident by the flood cataclysms that wrought destruction to much of the country in the past decade,” the foundation said in an article highlighting the findings of the flooding risk report. “Reliable infrastructure is essential to the economic prosperity, sustainability, and security of communities across the United States.”

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