What do Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Tula, Mexico (a city outside Mexico City), have in common? Both have histories of communities experiencing unequal flood exposure, unfair recovery outcomes, and a limited ability to adapt to flooding. These inequalities represent what we call flood injustice, and they demonstrate how flood risk is shaped by politics and policy as much as, or perhaps even more than, by weather and climate change. Cedar Rapids saw a major flood in 2008 that displaced more than 18,000 residents and incurred over $3 billion in economic losses. Flooding primarily occurred within affordable housing and other residential areas west of downtown.