Much like their counterparts in the Baton Rouge area, many victims of the waist-deep floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew don’t have flood insurance.
As The Associated Press reports, many Americans either don’t want to pay for flood insurance or feel that they don’t need it.
Even in high-risk flood zones where homes are required to have such coverage, the compliance rate nationally was only 53% as of 2015, according to the government’s National Flood Insurance Program. In Louisiana, only 81% of high-risk properties were covered.
Industry officials say it is a troubling situation, especially because the risk of flooding appears to be on the rise.
“We seem to be having more and more flooding events, be it climate change or other things. We’re seeing areas that are experiencing flooding events that may not have experienced them in the past,” says Cynthia DiVincenti, a vice president at Aon National Flood Services.
Ordinary homeowner insurance typically covers wind damage—torn-off roofs, fallen trees—but not flooding. Banks require homes in high-risk flood zones to buy flood insurance, but even then the percentage of properties that are covered is well short of 100%.
Worse, lots of flooding takes place outside those designated hazard areas. That was the case when an unnamed storm inundated the Baton Rouge area in August.
The damage in Baton Rouge was put at $660 million, and most people here had no flood insurance.
Flood insurance in low- to moderate-risk areas averages $400 to $600 a year, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA offers flood insurance through the NFIP because it’s generally not profitable for private insurers to sell it.
