Semester of Graduation
Fall 2024
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Environmental Sciences
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Increasing flood losses in the Gulf of Mexico pose serious threats to resilience and insurability. The purpose of this study is to understand how scale, social vulnerability, risk and urban form relate to NFIP insurance coverage and flood exposure. Our multilevel models identify that flooding is significantly clustered by region and counties, especially shoreline counties. Our measures of risk suggest that the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas underestimates risk and exposure when compared with Flood Factor, and that there is some compensation in terms of insurance coverage, suggesting a pattern of adverse selection. Older housing stock appears both less insured and less exposed, raising questions of whether current growth patterns are increasing risk independent of environmental change. Our models suggest that census tracts with higher percentages of black residents are less insured and more exposed, and a similar pattern exists for rural areas. Our results highlight the need to seek common solutions across the Gulf of Mexico, concentrating on the most flood-exposed counties, and that specific resilience strategies may be necessary to protect areas with socially vulnerable populations, especially in rural areas. Underlying challenges exist due to the spatial relationship between exposure and social vulnerability, and potential for adverse selection in insurance markets due to different measures of risk.
Date
8-22-2024
Recommended Citation
Hyde, Anissa J., "Insurance Coverage and Flood Exposure in the Gulf of Mexico Region: Risk, Social Vulnerability, Urban Form, and Scale" (2024). LSU Master's Theses. 6029.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/6029
Committee Chair
Douthat, Thomas
Included in
Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons