![]() And increasing risk means increasing rates,” said Kousky, one of the nation’s leading experts on flood insurance. “With climate change, in some places around the country, we can expect risk to keep increasing. “The nation is at risk because of increased climate change and because of increased development in risky areas,” Maurstad added, “and there’s a better understanding of that and how we can all work as one community to not ignore the flood risk this nation faces year after year.”Ĭarolyn Kousky, associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the rate increases could end up being even higher than FEMA projections, which are based on current flood risk. “All of this, I believe, is having a significant impact on getting people to better appreciate their flood risk not just around the nation but in their neighborhoods, and that’s a good thing,” David Maurstad, a senior FEMA official in charge of the flood insurance program, said in an interview Tuesday. The new rates started taking effect in 2021 - drawing protests from some lawmakers - and are part of a larger effort by FEMA to alert the public about the growing threat of climate change. The restructuring, called Risk Rating 2.0, will take more than a decade to complete as rate increases are phased in each year until every policyholder is paying a premium that reflects the full flood risk of their home or business. The FEMA price hikes are a result of the agency’s decision in the 2010s to restructure the NFIP to make each premium reflect more accurately each property’s flood risk and to eliminate some discounts. Flood insurance is sold separately from homeowners’ coverage, and FEMA sells 90 percent of the nation’s flood policies through its NFIP. The increases will be particularly steep across coastal Florida and coastal Louisiana, where people also are facing huge increases in the premiums they pay for homeowners’ insurance. The average premium in the county on Florida’s southwestern coast is currently $1,053.Īverage premiums will more than double in 800 of 3,000 counties, according to an E&E News analysis of the FEMA data. ![]() ![]() In Collier County, Fla., which was ground zero for Hurricane Ian, homeowners will pay an average of nearly $4,000 for flood insurance from FEMA. In Plaquemines Parish on the Louisiana coast, the average flood insurance premium is projected to increase by 545 percent - to $5,431 from $842, FEMA data shows.
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