Irene soaks taxpayers per FEMA: National Flood Program Broke

Hurricane Irene Path Forecast

Taxpayers should expect to pay the costs for those shacks on stilts along the Atlantic coast that will get washed away by Hurricane Irene through National Flood Insurance, a government sponsored program that pays up to $350,000 for residential losses and $500,000 for commercial claims.

National Flood Insurance can cost as little as $129 per year depending upon the location in a flood area according to FEMA and Floodsmart.gov.

The average full payout policy costs approximately $600 about 50% less expensive than a private insurers cost to a consumer for an average $250,000 home of 2,000 square feet in the U.S.

NFIP is broke, insolvent and has paid about $18billion in claims since Hurricane Katrina.

The program needs to borrow more taxpayer dollars through the Congress as it continues to pay damages from flooding or mud slides  for the same property claims.

FEMA records document cases such as a $70,000 property whose owners were paid the aggregate of  $663,000 resulting from 34 seperate claims. FEMA says that people collect millions of dollars as a result of recurring claims and it’s all legal.

In another case, the owner of a $153,000 home was paid $2.3 million in multiple recurring claims according to FEMA records.

According to Floodsmart.gov, a 6 inch flood to a 2,000 square foot home could cost about $39,000 in repairs and damage vs a 4 foot flood which could cost approximately $75,000.

Flood Insurance is issued through a network of approximately 90 subsidized insurers who are waiting for Congress to return from its recess and vote, shortly after Labor Day, to soak the taxpayer by adding tax dollars to another failing government sposored program, the NFIP.

Which state/s has the most claims along the eastern seaboard? New Jersey and New York with 52,637 and that’s more than Maine, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maryland, DC and Connecticut combined with 16203.

Government records show the entire east coast block of states has filed more flood claims (68,840) than Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina combined with 68,779 leaving any statitician to wonder if flood insurance claims are a cottage industry along the east coast given the general track of severe hurricanes across the south since 1978.

“If this were a private insurer, it would be bankrupt,” said Dr. Bob Hartwig, a president of the Insurance Information Institute.

For more information, contact DisasterAssistance.gov at (800) 621-FEMA

***data available from editor@pronlinenews.com

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