Flood Insurance Is Hard. This Hurricane Site Can Help

When Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast five years ago, it blindsided thousands of residents of New York City and beyond who didn’t figure their neighborhoods could flood for the simple reason that they never had before. The disaster highlighted twin challenges: raising basic awareness of flood risks and easing the process of preparing for potential threats when the options are complicated.

Those goals have guided the housing nonprofit Center for NYC Neighborhoods and design firm Ideo in refashioning a post-Sandy flood information site, FloodHelpNY, into a user-friendly portal to help area homeowners suss out their property’s status and navigate the perplexing flood insurance landscape. That’s a straightforward-sounding objective—but a knotty design task.