FEMA Flood Insurance Chief: Forget Risk Maps: "If It Says 'Florida', You Need Flood Insurance"
If you’re a homeowner in Florida relying on flood zone maps to decide whether to buy insurance, you may want to check your drivers license instead.
"If it says Florida, you need flood insurance," said Roy Wright, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, which covers more policies in Florida than any other state. "It may be more helpful than trying to find the right map." Hurricane Irma is only the latest case in point, said Wright, who was in Miami Beach on Monday for an insurance conference.
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In the lead-up to Irma, an Associated Press analysis found that the number of Florida homes covered in high-risk areas had dropped by 15 percent in the previous five years. Fewer than half in hazard zones were protected from flood damage. Wright blamed the problem partly on flood maps that, like hurricane tracking maps, can mislead homeowners on actual risks. “We really gotta help people move beyond and quit focusing just on the lines,” he said. “Because nature, the day it rains, pays no attention to the lines.”
By contrast, when Harvey slammed the Texas coast, the national flood program insured 70 percent of the homes in moderate flood zones in Harris County. After the storm passed, 60 percent of the claims came from those moderate zones, proof that storms don’t always follow the contours of a flood map, Wright said. “That’s true in areas of Florida as well,” he said.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article203631769.html
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