A likely project has moved from off the stove onto the back burner, though not yet at a steady simmer.  It’s related to the National Flood Insurance Program, established 40 years ago “to protect communities from potential flood damage through floodplain management, and to provide people with flood insurance.”

At NFIP’s site, FloodSmart.gov, I found a little widget intended to help people grasp the potential cost of every small floods.  (You can click the image below to try it yourself.)

I tried eight or nine amounts of flooding, from 2 inches to 18.  It’s a pretty good effort, though some of the images are unclear — is the object used for 9 – 13 inches a bookshelf?  An entertainment center?

Still, far better than a spreadsheet or line graph or a dozen bullet-points about costs of flooding.