These 100 Nursing Homes Face Perilous Flood Risk. Minnesota Shows What Can Happen.
Staff raced against rising floodwater to evacuate 36 residents from a nursing home in New Richland, Minnesota. It’s one of 100 facilities KFF Health News identified as facing some of the nation’s worst flood risk.
New Richland, a small town in Minnesota, experienced a severe flood in September 2023 when floodwaters infiltrated New Richland Care Center, a nursing home, just before dawn. Administrator Robert Johannsen recounted the frantic efforts of staff to evacuate 36 residents, pushing them through 4-inch-deep water to awaiting buses. As the water rose, they had to lift the remaining three residents onto hospital beds, lifting them as high as possible to escape the encroaching floodwaters, which reached at least 2½ feet in the building.
Firefighters and volunteers from a high school football team assisted in moving the beds to safety across the street. Johannsen described the aftermath as "pretty devastating."
The nursing home, situated just 100 yards from a drainage ditch, has a history of flooding, having experienced three episodes within a 16-year period. The recent September storm, while significant, was not unprecedented. According to the National Weather Service, the area has faced multiple flooding events over the years.
In a KFF Health News analysis utilizing advanced flood hazard mapping from Fathom, a United Kingdom-based firm renowned for its flood simulation capabilities, 100 U.S. nursing homes have been identified as being at significant risk of flooding. This risk is pronounced when at least 2 feet of water could inundate the facilities during a severe storm.
The KFF Health News investigation, expanding on a 2025 report, highlights that Fathom’s flood risk data is often more current than the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) outdated maps, which do not account for climate change predictions.
Oliver Wing, Fathom’s chief scientific officer, emphasized that flood risk is ubiquitous across the United States. He stated, "Every community across the United States carries some level of flood risk. There is this idea that unless you can either see the ocean or the Mississippi from your front room, then you’re not at risk of flooding — when the reality is that anywhere rain can fall, it can flood." This analysis underscores the vulnerability of numerous nursing homes nationwide to devastating flooding events.
Written by urgent.news from KFF Health News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
