Teaching Notes: Regulating the 500-year floodplain: Harris county’s policy choices after Hurricane Harvey

This case examines how Harris County, Texas, confronted flood risk governance challenges following Hurricane Harvey (Blake and Zelinsky, 2018; National Weather Service, 2018). Despite the availability of advanced local flood modeling through the county-led MAAPnext initiative, local officials faced institutional constraints tied to federal floodplain maps and insurance rules administered by FEMA (Harris County Flood Control District, 2026b; Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2021). At the same time, residents were required to make decisions about rebuilding, relocation and insurance under conditions of conflicting and incomplete risk signals, shaped by FEMA flood maps, evolving insurance pricing...