Michigan’s historic floods have exposed vulnerabilities in the state’s flood preparedness, with many rural areas lacking access to flood insurance and accurate flood maps. Tom and Diane Peterman, who live on the shores of Black Lake, tried to buy flood insurance when they moved to their retirement home 14 years ago but were told it wasn’t available.

Flood Maps and Insurance

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) develops and updates flood plain maps that determine who’s in a flood plain and must buy insurance. However, many less-populated areas, including some Michigan counties, have never been mapped. Black Lake, for example, straddles two counties — Cheboygan, which has a 2012 FEMA flood plain map, and Presque Isle, where most areas have never been mapped.

FEMA’s maps are based on risks of rivers, streams, and other waterways overflowing their banks. But they don’t account for flooding caused strictly from increasingly heavy rainfall that overwhelms stormwater infrastructure in urban areas and inundates rural towns where there’s nowhere for the water to go.

Climate Change and Flooding

Climate change sets the stage for devastating floods, with a warmer atmosphere holding more moisture for longer periods, leading to heavy rain or snow when enough builds up. Michigan experienced a “truly a monumental flood” that in many areas exceeded what is known as a 100-year flood, meaning it has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year.

Experts say that it’s essential to update flood maps and for communities to be prepared, as the odds of more extreme weather increase due to climate change. “You should never be lulled into complacency that, ‘Oh geez we just had the big flood so we’re good for another 100 years or another 500 years,’” said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.