Who Has the Upper HAND in a Hurricane?

2026/07/26 by Julian A. Plough, Sheila M. Olmstead, Douglas H. Wrenn
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Health Professions · #Disaster Response and Management #Earthquake and Tsunami Effects #Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research

paper · doi:10.3368/le.103.1.012425-0003r1

crossref issued 2026/07/26 · crossref published 2026/07/26 · crossref published-online 2026/07/26 · openalex publication_date 2026/07/26 · crossref created 2026/07/26 · crossref deposited 2026/07/26 · crossref indexed 2026/07/26 · openalex created_date 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

<h3>Abstract</h3> Flood risk is increasing in the United States, but how property markets respond to this hazard is unclear. Focusing on Houston, Texas, we analyze changes in flood risk capitalization in property prices after three major Gulf Coast hurricanes. We compare two measures of flood risk–floodplain designations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and a hydrologically-imputed, continuous measure, Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND). HAND affects property prices after a storm in intuitive ways, while we observe counterintuitive post-storm price premiums within FEMA floodplains. Plausibly exogenous measures like HAND may be useful tools for characterizing flood risk in economic analyses.

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