The Federal Emergency Management Agency is responsible for drawing the flood maps that determine how much millions of Americans must pay in flood insurance premiums. A number of these maps, however, often rely on outdated data and can mistakenly place homeowners into high-risk flood areas.
ProPublica’s Theo Meyer and Al Shaw join us on the podcast this week to discuss their reporting on FEMA’s flawed flood maps; how Congress has drastically cut funding for updating flood maps in recent years, even as extreme weather has grown more frequent; and how certain federal programs have encouraged developers to build and rebuild in areas that are increasingly vulnerable to flooding.
You can read all of Meyer and Shaw’s reporting on flood maps on our series page. You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.
Do you know about problems with FEMA’s flood mapping? Tell our reporters about it here.
