EDITORIAL: Use updated science in mapping flood zones

April 21--Hurricane Harvey didn't just break levees as it swamped several Gulf states last summer; it broke the bank, leaving the National Flood Insurance Program $20.5 billion in debt, even after the Trump administration and Congress forgave $16 billion of the program's debt.

Now, with hurricane season on the near horizon, Congress will take up the flood insurance problem in advance of the program's scheduled expiration July 31.

The program has been foundering since Hurricane Katrina submerged New Orleans in 2005, but it's not due only to financial issues.

As reported recently by Scientific American, the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses obsolete data to calculate likely flood risk and, therefore, rates for flood insurance.

For example, a study published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that 41 million Americans live within 100-year flood zones -- that is, areas that have a one in 100 chance of being hit with the worst flood in a century. FEMA estimates that 14 million people live in such zones. That means that many more Americans should have flood insurance.

FEMA data also does not fully account for ongoing sea level increases and resulting changes in wave action along coast lines that increase the likelihood of coastal flooding.

As Congress ponders the flood insurance program, it should mandate the use of the most detailed current science in mapping flood zones.

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