It Doesn’t Take a Hurricane to Cause a Flood Flooding is the costliest — and the most common — natural disaster to significantly impact communities across the United States, The PEW Charitable Trust notes in its reporting on flood-prepared communities. Flood events have accounted for more than $850 billion in damage and losses in the U.S. since 2000, the global nonprofit, nongovernmental organization points out. It doesn’t take a hurricane to create a flood event. After all, just one inch of water in a structure can cause up to $25,000 of damage, according to FEMA. But the run-up to the Atlantic hurricane season is nevertheless a good time to consider flood insurance. This year it is especially important for risk professionals to talk to their clients about flood insurance, in part because of FEMA’s roll out this year of a new rating system for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Risk Rating 2.0, and because of the growing market for private flood insurance.