South Dakota Has the Fourth-Lowest Flood Risk in America Over the Next 30 Years
In most 'normal' years, we begin to wonder when our wet spring weather will catch up to us in the form of flooding across the state of South Dakota.
New numbers out this week show that residents of the Mount Rushmore State don't have too much to be concerned about for the next several years.
First Street Foundation, a Brooklyn, New York-based research organization accessed South Dakota's flood risk over the next 30 years to be the fourth-lowest among all 50 states in America.
According to the research, South Dakota's flood risk between now and 2050 rises by less than one percent (0.06%). Only Oklahoma (-1.6%), Nebraska (-.3%), and Iowa (0%) have lower risks over the next three decades.
A closer look at South Dakota shows that there are currently 62,600 properties at risk in the state. That number will go up to 63,000 by 2050.
Three different communities in the state stand out as being the most vulnerable.
Rapid City has the greatest number of properties at risk for flooding (4,442 by 2050), Sturgis has the highest percentage of at-risk properties (40%), while Aberdeen has the greatest growing risk (+4%).
As for Sioux Falls, an estimated five percent of properties in the city are at risk for flooding - a little more than 3,100.
The two biggest flooding events in South Dakota over the past 20 years occurred along the Missouri River in the southeast part of the state. In June of 2014, 449 properties were impacted near North Sioux City. In March of last year, 627 experienced flooding near Yankton.
Nationwide, the study predicts an 11 percent flood risk increase by 2050, potentially impacting more than 16 million properties.
Cape Coral, Florida, tops the list of cities with properties at risk of flooding, growing from its current rate of 69 percent to 84 percent in the next 30 years. Los Angeles and Chicago are second and third on that list.
States along the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf Coast have the greatest increased risk of flooding in the next 30 years. Louisiana's risk jumps nearly 70 percent, while Delaware, New Jersey, Florida, and South Carolina will see increases by about 20 percent.