About 170 hospitals across the U.S. are at the highest risk of significant or dangerous flooding, KFF Health News reported Oct. 1.
KFF used data from Fathom, a company that specializes in flood simulation, and compared flood risk by location for more than 7,000 hospitals. Hospitals were considered at significant risk if the 100-year flood data — an intense weather event that has roughly a 1% chance of occurring in any given year — predicted that 1 foot or more of water could reach a considerable portion of the building or cut off road access.
Here are four things to know:
1. The 170 hospitals at greatest risk account for nearly 30,000 patient beds.
2. Among the hospitals were large trauma centers, small rural facilities, children’s hospitals, long-term care centers and critical access hospitals. Many of these facilities were located along coastal regions or near rivers, creeks or drainage canals.
3. Of the hospitals at greatest risk, one-third were located in areas that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had not designated as flood hazard zones. Most of the risk to these hospitals have not been captured on FEMA flood maps due to unaccounted for changing climate factors, KFF reported.
4. The data arises amid federal funding cuts to FEMA and extreme weather aid programs. FEMA told KFF that flooding is a common, costly and “under appreciated” disaster. The federal flood risk management standard, which required that hospitals be elevated or incorporate extra flood protections to receive federal funding, was created in 2015, but FEMA stopped enforcing it in March.
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