Wind farm to locate in St. Mary
July 30, 2013La. flood board sues oil companies over erosion
July 30, 2013
Local, state and federal officials are turning up the heat on Washington, D.C., to avert what they say could be devastating flood insurance rate increases, while trying to impress on residents how important their own role is in applying pressure as well.
“This is a perfect storm,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet told nearly 200 people who packed into a Terrebonne Parish library meeting room last week, with whom he shared a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the issue.
New flood maps that tell federal officials of the risks properties face coupled with legislation that is likely to increase the rates have conspired to make for a disaster that could end up worse than the floods insurance is supposed to protect against.
Re-authorization of federal flood insurance by Congress through the Biggert-Waters Act had an unintended consequence, Claudet said, explaining a congressional mandate for the flood insurance program to operate in the same manner as a profit-making entity.
“Biggert-Waters, which reauthorized NFIP, phases out grandfathering,” he explained. “That is, properties that were built in accordance with all FEMA requirements and applicable codes may now be considered out of compliance – even if the owner has done nothing wrong, and there has been no flooding.”
Coincidentally, Claudet said, flooding estimates have not taken into account improvements to levee systems and new floodgates in Terrebonne that lessen flood risk.
Estimates of rates for homes in some other parishes rising from $300 to $23,000 drew some gasps from spectators.
Homeowners can determine what their new rates might be at www.tpcg.org. Thus far none of the local increases appear as radical as what has been seen in St. Charles or St. Tammany, but Claudet warned that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
U.S. Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., have already introduced various bills that will require FEMA pay attention to improvements in systems as part of an experiment. Other bills are demanding that NFIP not raise rates until all available data are examined.
The most recent move in Washington is a letter to President Barack Obama from Landrieu and Vitter.
Sent Monday, it highlights the importance of strong leadership at FEMA, which is under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security.
One possible pick to replace out-going DHS head Janet Napolitano us FEMA administrator Craig Fugate.
“Earlier this year, FEMA caused panic in many parishes in south Louisiana in part by predicting future flood insurance rates based on incomplete and inaccurate maps, and the man in charge of administering this program shouldn’t get a promotion until all of the challenges resulting from the implementation of Biggert-Waters are resolved,” Vitter said. “The flawed flood maps put communities affected under the gun, and the result could be that they will have to bear the cost of FEMA’s mistakes for years to come.”
Vitter says he may consider blocking Fugate if he is indeed nominated before the challenges facing the NFIP are adequately addressed. Vitter has called on FEMA to rescind preliminary flood maps.
Landrieu continues pressing her legislation as well.
The full Senate Appropriations Committee has already passed Landrieu’s legislation to prevent the FEMA from raising rates on “grandfathered” NFIP properties. These are homes and businesses that were built to code and were subsequently re-mapped into higher risk areas on a new flood map.
FEMA Associate Administrator David Miller, who oversees the NFIP, will visit affected Louisiana communities Aug. 8, Landrieu said, at her invitation.
In May, Landrieu introduced the Strengthen, Modernize and Reform The National Flood Insurance Program Act to correct major flaws in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The SMART NFIP Act would delay premium increases, repeal provisions preventing new owners of sold homes to maintain subsidized rates, and allow the rebuilding of key community facilities destroyed in a disaster that lie in what are called “high-velocity” zones.
Nearly 200 people crammed into a Terrebonne Main Library conference room to hear Parish President Michel Claudet and other officials tell them about the potential of crippling flood insurance rate increases due to provisions of the congressional bill that re-authorized the program. Claudet called combo a “perfect storm.”
