Posts Tagged ‘wildfires’

FEMA Says: TX Fire Victims Need Flood Insurance

December 15th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in flood insurance, insurance news

This may seem counter-intuitive, but FEMA is advising the survivors of last spring and summers’ wildfires in Texas to consider flood insurance on their homes and offices.

Why flood insurance? Because when the wildfires burned away the trees, grasses and other vegetation in the scorched areas, the healthy plant roots that usually soak up a lot of rainwater were also lost. All that charred land means that even normal storm runoff has the potential to cause mudslides, flooding, and severe erosion.

The risk of wildfire-related flood damage is greatest, of course, for property that actually burned, but it houses and other buildings either below or downstream from the burned areas are at a heightened risk of flooding, as well. In fact, it is just this sort of interconnectedness that makes flooding the most common natural disaster in the United States.

Flood insurance can be obtained through the agent who sold your regular homeowners or renter’s insurance policy.

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Texas Wildfires Still Burning

April 20th, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in fire insurance, homeowners insurance

From flooding to hailstorms to fire, it seems the central United States can’t catch a break this week. In today’s installment of Environmental Hazards and You, it’s the latter risk that is running rampant, this time in Texas.

As is typical in a La Nina year, Texas had an extremely dry winter, and the spring has been warmer and dryer than is usual, as well. This, combined with all the violent windstorms, is a fire threat waiting to happen. Except it’s not waiting. So far, almost 1.8 million acres of land have been seared this year, and that’s not all in the open plains. Instead, there are residential areas being burned, including 150 upscale homes in Possum Kingdom Lake, which is about seventy miles west of Fort Worth. Two days ago, 400 Palo Pinto residents (50 miles west of Fort Worth) were ordered to evacuate, and the inmates of the county jail were moved to other facilities, as well.

In another part of the state, there were 200 families who were forced to evacuate from a neighborhood in Austin, after a separate fire was caused by a homeless man’s untended campfire and high winds.

So far, none of the fires (there are more) are completely contained, but you can bet residents of Texas who are both east and west of the fires are taking this as an object lesson in the need for homeowners and fire insurance coverage.

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Wet Winter Plus Dry Spring Means More Wildfires Likely

June 10th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in fire insurance, homeowners insurance

If you live in the Southwest, it’s time to make sure you have adequate homeowners (hazard) insurance. Why? because AccuWeather is reporting that this season, and especially the next few days, could lead to a “particularly troubling” fire season. The company explained that the heavy moisture caused by intense winter storms spurred greater than usual growth of brush and foliage this spring. Now that summery temperatures and bright sunshine are causing things to dry out, such growth is more likely to become fuel for wildfires caused by lightning.

AccuWeather stresses that not every summer day holds the same risk of fire danger. Days with low humidity are fairly common, for example, but days with low humidity and gusty breezes – the necessary combination to exacerbate fire danger – are comparatively rare.

Explained a representative of the company, “While a cooldown is in store for the Southwest beginning Friday and lasting through the weekend, gusty winds and low humidity levels will raise the fire danger the next few days. Any fire that gets going could spread rapidly.”

Despite the fact that this year has seen fewer wildfires (so far) than the average, the potential always exists for that to change, especially with building drought conditions in the Southwest, which had its wettest early and middle winter in years. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, this year through June 10, there have been about 970,000 wildfires nationally. During 2009 through June 10, due to very dry conditions throughout the winter and spring, there were nearly 1.6 million wildfires across the nation.

So far, however, prevailing wet conditions in much of the Northwest, Northeast and Southeast have resulted in fewer than average wildfires. However, an abrupt and early end to spring rains mean that foliage and brush may reach their driest conditions sooner rather than later.

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