Climate Changed
Ground Zero for Flooding: Washington’s Trump International Hotel
The U.S. federal civilian buildings most exposed to floods are concentrated in the capital. The numbers—and the potential cost to taxpayers—are staggering.
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The worst hurricane season in memory has spurred President Donald Trump to consider new ways to prod private homeowners to move out of flood plains. But many of the federal government’s own buildings are also at risk of flooding, including the one that Trump has leased for his Washington hotel.
The U.S. General Services Administration, which runs most non-defense federal facilities, owns or operates 14.3 million square feet of buildings in the flood zone. That’s equivalent to nearly three Pentagons, spread across 14 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.