With floods impacting nearly every corner of the state this year, the head of the Louisiana Bankers Association says the National Flood Insurance Program has failed to protect thousands of Louisianans, due largely to a flawed mapping process for flood zones.
The federal program is responsible for creating the maps bankers use to determine whether borrowers need to purchase flood insurance when they are buying a home, Robert Taylor, the association’s CEO, says in a letter to the editor sent to Louisiana media.
But the unprecedented flooding in Louisiana this year has demonstrated that the maps are unreliable and are a flaw in the homebuying process, he says.
“People who believed they were safe because the flood maps showed them to be outside the flood hazard area are now trying to figure out how they will rebuild. Whole subdivisions and communities that are not in the flood hazard area were flooded,” Taylor says.
Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon previously told Daily Report that an estimated 75% of property owners impacted by catastrophic flooding in south Louisiana did not have flood insurance.
Borrowers typically assume they are safe from flooding if federal maps show the house they’re seeking to purchase lies outside of flood-susceptible areas. Taylor says it can be argued whether that line of thinking is unreasonable or not, “but the reality is the federal government is responsible for the mapping, and the mapping is the driver of the purchase of the insurance.”
“These maps are the holy grail of lending, as they determine if the customer must purchase flood insurance,” Taylor says.
Taylor says Congress needs to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program in 2017 and make fixing the maps a priority.
Taylor is recommending that everyone speak with their elected officials about the inaccuracy of the maps, and is advising property owners to purchase flood insurance, even if it’s only for peace of mind.
