There are weather events, and after that there are the human-driven aspects, including exactly how we handle our rivers as well as the changes we make to land. Increased urbanization, for instance, includes pavement as well as other nonporous surface areas, alters all-natural drainage systems, and also commonly results in much more houses being built on floodplains. In cities, under-maintained facilities can cause metropolitan flooding.

Go to FEMA's Flooding Map Solution Center to…