KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 25 (UPI) -- Flooding is the biggest natural threat to U.S. homes, but only 7 percent of U.S. adults say they have prepared their homes for flooding, a survey indicates.
A water resources survey from HNTB Corp., an infrastructure firm, says 68 percent of U.S. adults do not recognize flooding as the biggest natural threat to their home or property.
"After Katrina I thought America had collectively woken up to the flood risks we face, but instead we have continued to hit the snooze button," Rob Vining, national director water resources practice at HNTB, says in a statement.
Fifty-five percent of U.S. adults say it's likely their area will be hit with an intense storm, hurricane or flood in the next five years, but 63 percent say they would not put more money toward their annual taxes for measures to protect their neighborhoods and 44 percent say their area is ill-equipped to deal with an extreme storm.
The biggest challenge may lie with an uninformed public, Vining says.
Nearly half think levees in their area will never fail, while the American Society of Civil Engineers' most recent Report Card for America's Infrastructure gave our nation's levees a D-minus grade.
"As systems age, risk increases. Unfortunately, proposed federal funding for Fiscal Year 2012 is below 2008 levels," Vining says.
The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, polled a random nationwide sample of 1,000 Americans April 26 to May 6. The survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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