National Hurricane Survival Initiative

Saving Lives & Minimizing Damage -- Is your community prepared?

Mythbusters: Flooding and Flood Insurance Edition

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flooding house rendering

There are plenty  of misconceptions about flooding, especially when it comes to hurricanes and insurance. Water damage can cause extreme harm to your home and belongings. While it may not be possible to completely ensure that the contents of your home remain safe and dry, there are ways to be prepared for some of the serious consequences of a hurricane. Here are some myths about flooding and flood insurance, along with the facts –  so you can arrange the best post-hurricane plan for yourself and your home.

I’m more concerned about the wind, which I’m sure will cause more damage to my home than water.

Though hurricanes can have dangerous high-intensity winds, more damage can actually be caused by the water accompanying these, especially storm surge. This is when large rushes of water get pushed on shore by the hurricane, wiping out whatever stands in its way.

A 2014 study by Edward Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, gathered data on hundreds of Atlantic tropical cyclones between 1963 and 2012. Over the span of those 50 years, half the fatalities (49%) were directly attributed to storm surges. This includes 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, in which storm surge was the primary cause of death. The Insurance Information Institute ranks Florida as the #1 state at risk from storm surge, for both the number of homes and the reconstruction value. Storm surge poses a threat to both lives and bank accounts, so in order to be fully prepared, you need to be aware of its damage potential.  

NOAA Storm Surge PSA from Jim Edds on Vimeo.

My home isn’t near the coast or in a flood zone, so there’s no threat of flooding.

Heavy rain from a hurricane can cause major flooding, regardless of where flood zones appear on  a map. The Weather Channel notes that rainfall depends on the storm’s speed and size, and heavy rain bands can reach far beyond the coast. According to FEMA, 20% of all flood insurance claims come from areas outside the high-risk flood zones – and  over half the claims from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 came from outside of flood zones.

fallen beach house from storm surge

Since I already have homeowners’ insurance, I don’t need flood insurance.

Contrary to unfortunately popular belief, most homeowners’ policies do not cover flood damage. The same goes for renters, who must also purchase flood protection separately. Of the 10 most costly hurricanes in the United States, Florida was affected by seven. According to FEMA, a single inch of flood water in an average home can cost over $20,000 – the same as the average yearly cost of out-of-state public universities. And that doesn’t even factor in personal property losses that are sure to boost the number up.

If a hurricane is heading my way, I can just purchase a policy before the storm hits so that I’m still covered.

Your purchase of flood insurance doesn’t mean coverage will start right away, as most policies have a 30-day waiting period. This is one of many aspects of hurricane planning that is only effective if prepared well in advance of hurricane season.  Be sure to leave yourself sufficient time to communicate with your insurance provider and pick a policy that works best for you. Don’t put it off, or you’ll find yourself deeply regretting the delay when you’re forced to pay for water damage out of pocket.

My house has flooded, so to file a claim I’ll have to leave my home the way it is until an assessment is done.

FedNat, which has been providing Floridians with various types of insurance for 25 years, says otherwise. Once the storm has passed, you should file a claim as soon as possible. FedNat will send a contractor at no charge or obligation if emergency services are required, including water extraction. Additional crucial actions include drying out your home and photographing damaged property, which should not be discarded until the adjuster is able to examine it. FedNat also provides resources on hurricane preparation and encourages using an inventory worksheet and checklist.

quote from Jay Neal of FAIR Foundation endorsing FedNat

The impacts and costs of flooding

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By: Craig Fugate

In an era of increasingly intense and frequent severe weather, tens of millions of Americans are all too familiar with the impacts and costs of flooding.

Unfortunately, Congress has failed to update flood policy to meet the challenges of this new norm, instead choosing to continually extend its own deadline for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides federally backed coverage for homeowners and small businesses in 22,000 communities nationwide.

The program, which is more than $20 billion in debt, is in dire need of reform. In its current form, the NFIP has failed in two of its goals — decreasing the costs from flood damage and improving the federal government’s management of flood risk — and without major improvements will continue to burn through taxpayer dollars while incentivizing policyholders to live in at-risk areas through subsidized premiums.

And yet, Congress has kicked this can down the road for the seventh time in less than a year.

This continued delay comes despite the fact that some in Congress are proposing fresh ideas for fixing the program. Pending bills would require sellers to disclose flood risk to homebuyers, require repeatedly flooded communities to develop localized plans to reduce risk, enhance mapping of risk areas, boost investments in resilience — for example, through a revolving loan fund — and engage private insurers, all viable strategies to keep people safer while decreasing the costs of disasters.

The failure of Congress to act on these proposals should be particularly concerning to the tens of millions of Americans who live in areas with a 26 percent chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage.

And there’s a more immediate threat: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a 75 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season, which began June 1, will be equal to or worse than average (the season has already produced two hurricanes, a benchmark that isn’t reached until Aug. 28 in an average year).

Last year’s destruction from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused more than $270 billion in losses. Even now, 10 months after the last of those storms, many Americans continue to grapple with their losses and unsettled insurance claims, and many communities struggle with how and where to rebuild.

Americans deserve better from the NFIP. Established in 1968 to compensate for a lack of available private insurance and to promote sound floodplain management, the program is where most people turn for flood insurance. And in the five decades since the NFIP’s creation, it has grown to cover roughly 5 million policyholders nationwide. Unfortunately, in that time it also has largely failed to mitigate flood risk while becoming fiscally unsustainable.

Each month, people unwittingly buy homes in areas likely to flood, learning only at closing that they’re required to carry flood insurance on their new property — coverage that isn’t included in a standard homeowner’s policy.

Some, due to a perceived lack of flood risk, feel they should not be required to purchase the insurance, and many who have flood insurance policies — even those who pay federally subsidized premiums — believe the costs are too high. And others who are not required to buy insurance because they live adjacent to — versus in — designated flood-prone areas are often unable to pay for repairs and rebuilding when major storms flood their properties.

Fiscal conservatives who support self-sustaining government policy and programs largely want the NFIP reformed and point to the billions in losses that the program has racked up, including the recent forgiveness of a $16 billion debt to the federal Treasury.

Others who are similarly concerned about wasteful spending note that the program functions as a perverse incentive, encouraging people to live in high-flood-risk areas and to rebuild, sometimes again and again, after their homes are damaged or destroyed — rebuilding that is financed through subsidies and payouts.

Floods don’t choose political sides or respect jurisdictional boundaries, nor are they confined to the coasts. In the past decade, landlocked states accounted for eight of the 10 states that experienced the most flood-related disaster declarations. And allowing the federal government to fund repairs and rebuilding for policyholders that repeatedly flood — in some cases to the tune of exponentially more money than what their property is worth — will drive the NFIP deeper into debt.

With the historic flood costs our nation suffered last year, and the potential for billions of dollars more in damage this year, Congress must act now to authorize a modernized NFIP with effective policies regarding disclosure and repetitive-loss properties. That is one surefire way to help communities prepare for flooding and break the costly cycle of rebuilding the same structures time and time again.

Craig Fugate was administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2009 to 2016.

Source: https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/5/the-impacts-and-costs-of-flooding/?__twitter_impression=true