“Sometimes we like to look at these lines on maps and think that they are very strong determinants—like flooding won't happen here because I'm on the other side of this line, but that's not necessarily true,” says Brett Sanders, professor of civil and environmental engineering and urban planning and public policy at the University of California, Irvine. … “The reality is that there's a variety of gradual variation in risk across the land surface.” In fact, insurance claim data shows that many flood loss claims that are made to insurance companies often fall outside of map hazard zones, says Sanders. Read More