Community Resilience in the Face of Institutional Failure: Race, Community Support, and Perceived Risk of Flooding

• In Event: Repair, Resistance, Renewal: Sociological Solutions to Wicked Problems

Abstract

Disaster research consistently demonstrates that racialized social structures shape both exposure to hazards and the capacity to recover from them. Black communities, in particular, face heightened vulnerability to flooding due to historically rooted inequities that place them in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods and limit access to protective infrastructure. While prior work highlights the importance of social support networks in helping marginalized communities respond to disasters, less is known about how these networks shape perceptions of flood risk—an important precursor to preparedness, resilience, and recovery. This study examines whether individual social connections and neighborhood trust moderate perceived flood risk among Black residents in Houston, Texas, a city marked by extreme flooding and persistent racial disparities. Using data from the 2022 Community Perceptions of Flood Mitigation Survey linked to Census tract characteristics and objective flood indicators, we estimate cumulative ordered logistic regression models predicting perceived likelihood of major home flooding in the next decade. Consistent with past research, Black, Latino, and other minoritized respondents report significantly higher perceived flood risk than White respondents. However, social support plays a substantial moderating role. Both the number of close confidants and trust in neighbors significantly reduce perceived risk. Notably, the effect of networks has a moderating effect for Black individuals such that where present, it reduces feelings of risk, and where absent, it amplifies feelings of risk. These findings underscore the importance of social networks in shaping hazard perception and highlight how community support may buffer the effects of structural vulnerability. This would also indicate that for disaster risk/preparedness, networks play a more important role for Black respondents than other groups, and could be an important source of community resilience to flooding.

Authors

• Kathryn Freeman Anderson, University of Houston

• Gabrielle Grant, University of Houston

• Nicole Hart, University of Chicago

• Hanadi Rifai, University of Houston

• Francisco Haces-Garcia, University of Houston