Flood is one of the most common natural calamities in the USA today. Yearly, floods claim hundreds of life, injure thousands more and ruin billion dollars worth of properties. Statistics not even count further damages that usually come with flooding, such as profit loss from businesses affected by severe cases of floods.



Flood can be defined as an overflow of a vast expanse of water. This flowing water submerges large areas of land causing widespread damage to life and property. It is important to note that floods do not result from heavy rain alone, but from some structural limitations too like dam overflows.

Effects of Flood Damage

The area of impact of floods may vary from small neighborhoods to multiple states depending upon the amount and speed of the flow of water. Some floods may develop over a period of time while others may happen suddenly. These sudden floods, called flash floods, cause more damage because it does not give enough time for people to evacuate.

Floods cause extensive physical damage. It not only causes damages to buildings, cars, houses, bridges and other construction, but also affects people and livestock to a considerable extent. In most cases, people and livestock die due to drowning.

Secondary impact of flood damage includes the spread of water-borne diseases, shortage of food, emotional trauma, unavailability of clean drinking water and economic hardships.

FEMA

FEMA is an acronym for the government body Federal Emergency Management Agency. The main purpose of FEMA is to help people to be prepared during natural disasters and to provide quick relief in areas affected by natural disasters. FEMA has responded quickly and effectively to many disasters including Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Southern Florida Hurricanes in 2004.

FEMA and Flood Damage

FEMA currently manages National Flood Insurance Program. This program was started by the U.S Government to minimize the losses incurred by home-owners due to flood damage. It helps home-owners by encouraging flood-prone communities to buy flood insurance protection from the Government. This provides financial assistance to repair and rebuild homes damaged by floods. However, the communities must agree to implement the Floodplain Management Ordinance. This ordinance lays down rules based on which new homes have to be built. This is done in order to prevent future flood damage.

Apart from this, FEMA has also issued a set of guidelines that must be followed before and during a flood. It states the precautions that must be followed by people living in any flood-prone or low-lying and inundated areas. If the flood is predicted to be extremely overwhelming, FEMA aids people to evacuate safely from a region before that kind of flood occurs.

People from flood damage zones will find this federal-supported agency especially beneficial. From the time the actual flooding occurs, or even before and after that, FEMA can already be of help to US citizens. IT is therefore important to be well informed of how FEMA can assist you in this kind of disaster.