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Insurance increasingly unaffordable as climate change brings more disasters

Aug 31, 2020
In California, homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas are finding insurance is harder to find, costs more and is worth less.
The LNU Lightning Complex Fire burns through Napa on Aug. 18, 2020.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

After multiple natural disasters, Florida residents have fewer options for insurance coverage

Jan 30, 2019
Larger insurance providers have been cutting back on Floridians' property insurance coverage.
Donnie Young reacts after seeing one of his houses in Port St. Joe beach, Florida, on October 13, 2018, three days after Hurricane Michael hit the area.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

With recovery from 2017 storms still underway, hurricane season begins June 1

May 25, 2018
Last year was the most damaging hurricane season on record, with storms Harvey, Irma and Maria wreaking hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction across the United States. The 2018 season gets underway in June, and some forecasters are predicting a normal to above-normal season. What does that mean for getting flood insurance coverage? Click […]

Median home prices are up in areas with the biggest risk of natural disaster

Sep 21, 2017
But people may be taking some risks more seriously.
Claude Scee salvages what he can from his father-in-laws home that was destroyed by hurricane Irma on September 17, 2017 in Summerland Key, Florida. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Some investors bet big against disasters

Sep 13, 2017
Catastrophe bonds spread insurance risk for events like hurricanes.
Two women look over severe damage to a residence following powerful Hurricane Irma on September 12, 2017 in Isamorada, a village encompassing six of the Florida Keys. 
Marc Serota/Getty Images

Their homes escaped flooding, but the fear lingers

Sep 1, 2017
"Everyone becomes on edge when you hear any type of heavy rainfall," a Louisiana homeowner says.
A flooded street in Cypress, Texas, northwest of Houston.
Courtesy of Marcy Matyas

Congress should have seen the signs that a Harvey-like event was coming

Aug 31, 2017
Politico's Michael Grunwald discusses a decades-old report about repetitive losses in the Naional Flood Insurance Program.

For public good, not for profit.

Harvey adds to the mounting debt of federal disaster aid

Aug 29, 2017
As the devastation continues to mount in Texas, so does the heavy debt owed by the National Flood Insurance Program. The program, which is managed by FEMA, already borrowed nearly $25 billion, most of it to cover claims from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. The program was supposed to effectively manage the cost of flood […]

Midwest flooding underscores a need for flood insurance reform

May 4, 2017
Floodwaters have displaced hundreds of people and lead to several deaths in the Midwest. Now the damage assessment starts. The National Flood Insurance Program helps homeowners buy affordable flood insurance, but it’s $25 billion in debt. Congress has a chance to reform it before it’s up for reauthorization in September, and those reforms could include […]

Why many Louisiana homeowners lack flood insurance

Aug 17, 2016
Most Louisiana homeowners aren't covered.
Two people walk through a flooded street in Sorrento, Louisiana as an early morning fog blankets the area. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images