Report Says 25% of Critical Infrastructure in U.S. at Risk of Being Shut Down Due to Flooding

According to a report by the First Street Foundation 25% of all critical infrastructure in the United States is at risk of being shut down due to flooding. Currently, one-in-four pieces of critical infrastructure in the US which includes police and fire stations, hospital, airports and wastewater treatment facilities face risk of being deemed inoperable by flooding according to First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research and technology group that assesses the threat posed by flooding across the country. The report also found nearly 2 million miles of roads, which is about 3% of roadways are at risk of becoming impassable due to flooding.

During the report, researchers examined five categories across the United States which included critical infrastructure, social infrastructure which included museums, government buildings and schools, roads, commercial properties and residential properties. The report used estimates of flood risk from official governing bodies to determine the amount of inundation it would take to knock the facilities or services offline.