Flood waters from a Texas-sized beast like Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 led to $5 billion in damages as concerns surfaced on global topics such as climate change, sea level rise and storm surge.
Just this week, some of the worst flooding in years stretched from Ohio, across West Virginia and into parts of Kentucky and Tennessee.
But, in the lyrics from John Fogerty, “Who’ll stop the rain?”
Now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is preparing to open the floodgates on even more apprehension when it overhauls the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), reportedly increasing premiums in high-risk flood zones anywhere from 379% to as much as 1,215.9%.
“When you hear (reports of a) $24,000 flood insurance premium, it’s simply horrifying,” said Dr. Roland Samimy, the Chief Resilience and Sustainability Officer for the Village of Key Biscayne. “But that’s the reality of living in a coastal community.”
FEMA has not publicly shared how its new “Risk Rating 2.0” overhaul will impact individual premiums, but studies by the Brooklyn, NY-based nonprofit research group, First Street Foundation, revealed in its “The Cost of Climate Report” that some 265,000 properties could see annual premiums climb $10,000 or more to match the actual risk. The increase would gradually be rolled in for existing…
