Helene dumps rain on millions of U.S. homes that lack flood insurance

On
Thursday
night
Helene
crashed
into
Florida’s
coast
as
a
Category
4
hurricane.
The giant
storm with
140-mile-per-hour
winds
made
landfall
close
to
where
Hurricane
Debby
hit
in
August
and
where
Idalia
struck
just
over
a
year
ago.
It
quickly made
its
way
inland, knocking
out
power
for
millions.
And even
before
that,
it
started
dumping
rain
—
now
12
to
15
inches
across
a
swath
of
Georgia
and
South
Carolina,
and
a
stunning
29-plus inches
in
Busick,
North
Carolina.  

The
disaster
underscores
Americans’
dangerously
low
levels
of flood
insurance
coverage,
especially
away
from
coastal
areas. 

Massive
flooding
is
being
reported
across
the
South
and
into
Appalachia,
with
photos and
videos
showing
towns
from
Florida
to
North
Carolina underwater. 

“This
will
be
one
of
the
most
significant
weather
events
to
happen
in
western
portions
of
our
area,”
a
weather
service
in
western
North
Carolina
said.
As
of
Friday
afternoon,
the
French
Broad
River
through
Asheville,
had
come
within
about
a
foot
of
its
all-time
record. 

In
Atlanta,
Peachtree
Creek
rose
more
than
20
feet
from
Wednesday
to
Friday,
according
to
the
National
Weather
Service. Across
the
US,
36
river
gauges
had
reached
major
flood
stage,
while
an
additional
147
were
registering
water
overflowing
the
banks
of
rivers.
They
are
all
in
Helene’s
path
under
its
torrential
rains. 

Chuck
Watson,
a
disaster
modeler
at
Enki
Research,
said
his
latest
estimate
is
that
Helene
will
cause
$25
billion
to
$30
billion
in
physical
damage
and
losses. The
majority
of
that
won’t
be
covered
by
insurance. “The
ratio
of
insured
to
uninsured
has
been
dropping”
among
US
homeowners,
he
said, “and
a
lot
of
that
is
due
to
floods
not
being
covered
by
the
private
sector.” 

Roughly
4% of
Americans
have
flood
insurance,
according
to
the
Federal
Emergency
Management
Agency,
with
the
majority
of
those
policies
issued
under
the
government’s
National
Flood
Insurance
Program.
The rate
in
no
way
matches
the
risk
posed
by
more
frequent
extreme
rainfall
events. 

This
shortfall,
which
has
been
documented
for
years,
is
caused
by
two
main
factors:
Many
people
are
unaware
that
regular
home
insurance
usually
does
not
cover
floods,
or
that
they
live
in
a
flood-risk
area
where
this
extra
purchase
would
protect
them. 

Homeowners
who
live
within
FEMA-designated
flood
zones
are
required
to
buy
flood
insurance
if
they
have
a
mortgage.
However,
FEMA
has
mapped
only one-third of
America’s
floodplains,
according
to
the
Association
of
State
Floodplain
Managers. 

Moreover,
most
FEMA
maps
don’t
consider
pluvial
flooding,
or
flooding
from
rain.
That’s
likely
one
reason
why
flood-insurance
takeup
away
from
the
coasts
is
negligible.
In
many
inland
counties
in
the
Southeast
and
Appalachia,
coverage
under
the
federal
program
stands
at
2.5%
or
lower,
according
to
an
analysis
of
federal
data
by
reinsurance
brokerage
Guy
Carpenter. 

Then
there
are
cost
issues:
Some
Americans
who
had
flood
insurance
previously
are
now
giving
it
up
because
of
rising
insurance
prices. 

Christopher
Graham,
a
senior
industry
analyst
at
AM
Best,
a
credit
rating
agency
that
focuses
on
insurance,
described
the
problem
of
low
takeup
as “a
combination
of
people
not
believing
the
risk
applies
to
them
and
not
wanting
to
pay
the
price.” 

Homeowner
insurance
rates
in
the
seven
states
in
Helene’s
path
— namely
Florida,
Georgia,
South
Carolina,
North
Carolina,
Kentucky,
Tennessee
and
Virginia
—
went
up
by an
average
of
more
than
27% from
2018
to
2023,
according
to
S&P
Global
Intelligence.
The
price
hikes
have
also
been
steep
for
flood
insurance. FEMA,
which
manages
the
National
Flood
Insurance
Program,
in
2021
rolled
out
Risk
Rating
2.0,
an
update
to
how
it
sets
rates
that
was
meant
to
make
the
program
actuarially
sound. 

In
the
first
year
after
the
update,
75%
of
primary
residences
covered
experienced
an
increase
of
18%,
the
statutory
limit,
Benjamin
Keys,
a
professor
of
real
estate
at
the
University
of
Pennsylvania’s
Wharton
School,
testified
to
Congress
in
2023.
Half
of
all
policyholders
will
see
their
premiums
more
than
double
after
five
years,
Keys
predicted
in
his
testimony.
Higher
costs
have
led
some
people
to
drop
their
policies. 

But
that
is
a
big
gamble.
Flooding
is
the
most
damaging
of
all
perils.
It
has
cost
US
taxpayers
more
than
$850
billion
since
2000
and
is
responsible
for
two-thirds
of
the
costs
from
all
natural
disasters,
says
Flood
Defenders,
a
nonprofit
flood
insurance
advocacy
organization.
FEMA
estimates
that
a
single
inch
of
floodwater
in
a
home
can
cause
$25,000
in
damage. 

Un-
and
under-insured
homeowners
typically
believe
they
will
be
able
to
rely
on
help
from
the
federal
government,
but
FEMA
provides
very
limited
help
to
individuals
without
federal
flood
insurance,
and
even
that
safety
net
is
fraying.
FEMA
faces
a
financial
crisis
as
disasters
mount,
and
Congress
failed
to
replenish
the
federal
funds
used
for
storm
aid
in
a
government
funding
bill
that
passed
this
week.