Resource center
Tools and terms facility teams actually use
Deployment decisions are made against public forecast data and a written plan. These are the sources we point clients to, and the language those plans are written in.
Flood risk & mapping
Mapping shows regulatory flood zones. It does not show how water actually reaches a specific loading dock — but it is the right starting point for a risk conversation.
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center — search by address
Effective flood maps and zone determinations for a property address.
- FEMA — Know Your Flood Risk
What the zones mean in practice before you commit to a protection budget.
- FloodSmart — What is my flood zone?
Zone lookup tied to insurance rating, which is where premium conversations start.
Levees, dams & flood infrastructure
Facilities inside a leveed system are protected only to the system's design level, and levees can be overtopped or fail. These are the public records for what is actually there.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — National Levee Database
Levee location, extent and design protection height for the system your site sits behind.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — National Inventory of Dams
Dam records upstream, including hazard classification — the failure case that sets your real exposure.
- ASCE — Levees infrastructure report card
National condition and funding picture for the levee system your risk conversation depends on.
Water & river gauges
Deployment triggers should reference a specific gauge and a specific stage. These are the primary public sources facilities use to set and watch those thresholds.
- NOAA / NWS National Water Prediction Service — map
Official river stage observations and multi-day forecasts. Use the nearest gauge to define the stage that starts mobilization.
- NOAA / NWS National Water Prediction Service
Forecast points and hydrologic products behind the gauge readings you trigger on.
- USGS National Water Dashboard
Real-time streamflow and stage data, useful for watching a tributary that is not covered by a forecast point.
Hurricane & storm forecasting
Coastal deployments are timed against forecast track and onset of hazardous conditions, not against observed rainfall. Crews must be finished before conditions close in.
- National Hurricane Center
Advisories, track forecasts and surge products. The arrival time of tropical-storm-force winds is the practical deadline for a deployment.
- NWS Weather Prediction Center — excessive rainfall
Rainfall outlooks that flag inland flood risk from systems that never make landfall nearby.
Road conditions & traffic cameras
Crew and equipment movement is decided by which roads are still open. State camera and travel maps are the fastest way to check an alignment before mobilizing.
- Texas DOT — live traffic cameras
Camera views of flooded interchanges and low-water crossings across the state.
- Florida disaster traffic map
Closed roads and evacuation routes during a named storm.
- Louisiana DOTD — traffic & travel
Travel times, closures and camera feeds for the Louisiana corridor.
- SC DOT — 511 travel
South Carolina incident, closure and camera information.
After flooding — claims, cleanup & retrofit
Recovery work has rules. These are the primary documents for what an insurer will pay for, how to clean up safely, and what permanent changes reduce the next loss.
- NFIP Claims Handbook
What a National Flood Insurance Program policy actually covers, including prevention and loss-avoidance costs.
- American Red Cross — disaster cleanup
Safe cleanup sequence after floodwater recedes.
- EPA — flooded homes and buildings
Contaminant, mold and electrical hazards to handle before reoccupation.
- FEMA — retrofitting flood-prone structures
Permanent measures that reduce repeat loss on a building you intend to keep.
Flood loss data
Claims data is what makes the business case to a CFO. Federal claim data is summarized by state below; the underlying figures are FEMA's.
- Business flood insurance claims by state
Commercial flood claim counts and values by state, drawn from FEMA's claim data.
Articles on changing flood risk
Flood risk is not static. Mapping changes, river flooding is shifting north, and research keeps revising what the maps say.
- The Conversation — flood maps are growing
Why mapped flood area keeps expanding and what that does to insurance and site decisions.
- Newsweek — river flooding risk is shifting
Where river flood risk is moving, which matters for facilities outside the traditional hurricane belt.
- Insurance Journal — NC State study on FEMA maps
Research finding that flood maps understate risk in places insurers and owners assume are safe.
Definitions
Flood protection terminology
Plain definitions for the terms that appear in mitigation plans, quotes and deployment procedures.
- Flood mitigation plan
- A written, site-specific document describing how a property will be protected: barrier alignment, protection height, equipment, water source, access, crew, triggers and recovery steps.
- Temporary flood barrier
- A flood-protection system that is installed before an event and removed afterwards, rather than being built permanently into the structure.
- Water-filled barrier (tube dam)
- A barrier formed by tubes that are laid along the protection line and filled with water onsite, using the weight of the water to resist floodwater.
- Tiger Dam
- A specific water-filled tube barrier system, deployed in connected runs, anchored, and reusable after cleaning and storage.
- Alignment
- The planned route the barrier follows across a property, including corners, terminations and transitions at driveways and entries.
- Deployment trigger
- The predefined forecast, river stage or notification that starts mobilization — the point at which the plan is executed rather than discussed.
- Crest
- The forecast or observed peak water level of a river event. Protection height is commonly set against a forecast crest plus a margin.
- Seepage management
- Controlling the water that passes under or around any temporary barrier, usually with pumps and monitoring during the event.
- FM Global
- A mutual insurer and engineering organization for large commercial and industrial property. It sets engineering requirements for temporary flood protection and can reduce premiums where those requirements are met.
In production
Guides being written and reviewed
Each guide is written from operational experience and reviewed before publication, then linked to the services and markets it applies to.
Meanwhile, read the FAQ- What is commercial flood mitigation?Drafting
- Tiger Dam vs. sandbags: how water-filled barriers change deploymentDrafting
- How quickly can commercial flood barriers be deployed?Drafting
- What belongs in a commercial flood mitigation planDrafting
- How facility managers should prepare for hurricane seasonDrafting
- How snowmelt flooding affects commercial facilitiesDrafting
- When should temporary flood barriers be deployed?Drafting
- What to include in an annual flood readiness inspectionDrafting
- How facilities monitor river flood riskDrafting
- Temporary vs. permanent flood protection systemsDrafting
Next step
Build the flood plan before you need it.
Talk to us about your property, its flood exposure, the equipment you already own and what deployment would actually require onsite.