The House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for another five years. Financial reforms will also be established in an attempt to get the debt burdened program back on solid financial ground. The NFIP was created by Congress in 1968. It was intended to provide an insurance alternative to disaster assistance, to help meet skyrocketing costs of repair and replacement of homes and contents damaged by floods. As of last year, more than 5.5 million homes were insured by the NFIP. The National…
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Industry support remains high for flood reform
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) may soon receive much needed reform as the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passes a new bill that will extend the life of the program by another five years. The Flood Insurance Reform Act, as it is known, will institute a number of improvements to what is considered an archaic program. The bill has rallied the support of many insurance companies across the country, including the American Insurance Association (AIA). Currently, NFIP is more than $17 billion in debt. More than 5.6 million properties…
Read MoreUpdate on Mississippi River Flood
As of Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers had opened nine of the 125 bays in the Morganza spillway. The nine bays that were opened in the spillway are diverting around 90 thousand cubic feet of water per second. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was urging citizens in the Morganza area to start preparing for the inevitable evacuation. On Friday, the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t have an exact time when they would be opening the spillway; yet most knew the choice was unavoidable. Citizens in the Morganza area had been…
Read MoreSeveral rally to keep government flood program intact
Record flooding has put Mississippi in a state of disarray. The extent of flood damage is proof enough of the importance of insurance coverage, says the state’s Insurance Commissioner, Mike Chaney. Spurred by the flooding, Chaney is petitioning Congress to renew the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for another 5 years. Chaney argues that Mississippi residents relying on the program for coverage should not have to worry about their only means of protection disappearing. Several other Insurance Commissioners from across the country have joined in support of the continuance of…
Read MoreFarmers fear that man-made flooding will not be covered
Early last week, the U.S. Corps of Engineers breached a levee containing the swelling Mississippi River in an effort to mitigate damages from impending flooding. The action attracted the ire of local farmers, many of whom argued that their insurance would not cover the so called man-made disaster. The waters of the Mississippi continue to rise despite the breached levee, leading the Corps of Engineers to open the Morganza Spillway to mitigate the happening. The plan leads the Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner, Mike Strain, to pressure the U.S. Department…
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