A New Assessment of Flood Risk
University researchers First Street Foundation have released a new tool
for assessing flood risk that shows 70 percent more properties at risk than the
current maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The new maps
list 400,000 more parcels at risk across Michigan, with 39,744 in Detroit and
11,916 in Warren. An important divergence between these new maps and earlier
models is that FEMA uses primarily historical data to calculate risk, whereas
First Street incorporates more information about present environmental
conditions, including threats posed by climate change.
For more information, visit FirstStreet.org.
