Hurricanes Have Failed to Spur Flood Insurance Reform Bill

With Hurricane Florence reaching Category 4 status on Sept. 10, insurers and U.S. taxpayers are likely to see another round of hefty catastrophe losses, but reforms for the troubled National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) remain stalled in Congress. Very little flood insurance has been obtained in flood-prone areas outside mapped flood plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, where Florence is expected to land, according to Samantha Medlock of Willis Towers Watson. This means that many families will suffer uninsured losses, since standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover flood damage. Meanwhile, without congressional action, the NFIP is set to expire on Nov. 30.

Bloomberg (09/11/18) Ari Natter; Michael Smallberg; Ivan Levingston