Attitudes toward moving or staying and buying flood insurance to face varied flood threats in a floodplain community

Abstract

Demographics and possession of flood insurance are among the factors influencing flood response and recovery actions adopted by individuals, such as deciding to either move out of their homes or stay. It is essential to consider residents' attitudes to help policies prepare for the social and economic impacts of flooding. In some urban areas situated in floodplains, climate change has caused an increase in the severity of flooding. This research project focused on residents living within riverine floodplain areas delimited by FEMA and their attitudes regarding relocation under flood varied threats. A household survey in the United States was conducted in Corvallis, Oregon, which presented participants with different flood threat scenarios involving varying water depths and frequencies. After selecting predictors by applying a collinearity constraint, logistic regression was used to find significant predictors of individuals' attitudes toward moving out of their homes or staying at home and buying or upgrading flood insurance under varied flood threats. The results showed that some low or unknown-magnitude flood scenarios produced statistically significant models to predict mobility, but high-magnitude flooding did not yield statistically significant models. For example, flood insurance possession was the only significant predictor for staying after flooding in various scenarios. A more robust understanding of these interdependencies should increase the effectiveness of growing awareness of environmental threats and participation in risk-reducing behaviors.