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Northeastern U.S. Is VulnerableDavid Maurstad, FEMAThe Northeast has historically experienced flood damage from severe storms, nor'easters, and hurricanes. Three strong hurricanes reached the Northeast in the mid-1900s: in 1938, 1944, and 1954. The most destructive of these, the 1938 storm, destroyed approximately 63,000 homes on Long Island and throughout New England. In the last 35 years, devastating floods have continued to plague the Northeastern United States. Tropical Storm Agnes In 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes produced widespread rains in the Northeast, with some communities receiving 14 to 19 inches. These rains caused severe flooding from Virginia all the way north to New York. Agnes rewrote the book on inland flooding and the impact a tropical storm can have hundreds of miles from the coast. The entire state of Pennsylvania was declared a disaster area. Flooding from Agnes resulted in $2.3 billion in damages in Pennsylvania; $7.4 million in damages in New York; $110 million in damages in Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia; $222 million in damages in Virginia; and $15 million in damages in New Jersey. Hurricane Ivan In 2004, Hurricane Ivan produced widespread rains of up to 7 inches, causing extensive flood damage in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Claim payments of $180.2 million were made to policyholders in Pennsylvania alone. In fact, although the most NFIP claims were paid for Florida damage in 2004, the state with the second highest number of flood claims that year was not Texas or Louisiana, but Pennsylvania, with 8,898 paid losses. Tropical Storm Tammy In 2005, Tropical Storm Tammy developed off the east coast of central Florida in early October and made landfall in northeastern Florida, causing minor localized flooding. However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), when Tammy's remnants merged with a cold front and moved north, it contributed to widespread flooding in the Northeast that killed 10 people and caused significant damage. Tropical Storm Tammy resulted in $25 million in paid claims in New York and almost $14 million in neighboring New Jersey. June 2006 Storms It doesn't take a hurricane to cause damaging floods. FEMA regional officials continue to work with state and local officials to respond to the June floods that hit the entire Northeast. Following the floods, more than $32.4 million had been paid on 722 claims in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Property Owners are Underprotected There is no question: areas in the Northeast are at real risk. Yet, residents remain ill-prepared for the risk of flooding. Even in the highest-risk areas, the Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), where coverage should be 100 percent, less than 30 percent of properties are covered by flood insurance. According to a RAND Corporation study released in early 2006, only 28 percent of homes in high-risk flood areas in the Northeast are covered by federal flood insurance, compared to 61 percent in the South. Outside high-risk areas, just 0.6 percent of homes in the Northeast are covered by flood insurance. The 28-percent market penetration rate inside the SFHAs is particularly troubling, because these are the areas where flood insurance is mandatory for homes with mortgages held by federally regulated lenders. The RAND study found that only about half of those mortgage holders are in compliance. That is compared with 81-percent compliance in the South, but the fact is that anything short of full compliance with this legal requirement is not acceptable. Of course, while many property owners are protecting themselves by choice and because it is the right thing to do, a great number who are legally bound to do so are not. We need to address that situation.
Three Communities Exemplify Progress Clearly, flood insurance coverage in the Northeast is not what it should be or needs to be. However, progress is being made at the community level, and that kind of grassroots engagement is just what it will take to be able to one day count our nation as fully protected. A closer look at three communities impacted by recent Northeast flooding shows both real improvement and the need for continuing, targeted policy growth. Even though New Hope, Pennsylvania, is located along the Delaware River (an area that has seen consistent flooding in the past few years), only 4.4 percent of all residents have flood coverage. However, that number is up a dramatic 18.2 percent just since 2005. And, as part of that overall growth, coverage in the SFHA was up 22 percent. People in the high-risk areas of New Hope are getting a better handle on their risk.and they're getting flood insurance. By mid-2006, 73 percent of residents in the SFHA were carrying flood insurance. However, only 1.7 percent of property owners outside the SFHA had coverage. Just across the river, the town of Lambertville, New Jersey, also is making strides. While only 8 percent of all residents have flood insurance, that number is up 13 percent from 2005. And even though just 5.4 percent of individuals outside the SFHA were covered by mid-2006, that number has been rising dramatically, jumping almost 19 percent since 2005. Clearly, Lambertville residents in low- to moderate-risk areas are realizing that, even though they don't have to get flood insurance, they really do need it. Finally, the number of residents in the SFHA in Binghamton, New York, who now have NFIP coverage has increased by a full 19.5 percent since 2005. Such an increase in high-risk areas is encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to do to bring coverage up from a mere 0.3 percent outside of the SFHAs in this community. Mitigation Can Prevent Losses Carrying insurance is an important aspect of preparedness during every storm season. But insurance is just part of the story. Local leaders also must make sound floodplain management practices a priority to ensure the long-term safety of our nation's communities. Risk insurance is a key component of the overall mitigation effort to create safer communities by reducing losses of life and property and enabling individuals and communities to recover more rapidly from disasters. However, mitigation also consists of risk analysis and reduction:
How do you protect structures from damage? Possible activities include elevating, relocating, and retrofitting the structures themselves, as well as channeling water flow. But successfully undertaking such activities requires Federal, State, and local commitment to mitigation planning throughout all stages of the construction or reconstruction process. Creating stronger and safer communities reduces loss of life and property, enables individuals and localities to rapidly recover from future events, and lessens the financial impact on State, Tribal, and local governments, as well as the United States Treasury. Now serving as Federal Insurance Administrator and Director of FEMA's Mitigation Division, David Maurstad was once Mayor of Beatrice, Nebraska, served as a Nebraska State Senator, and later held the office of Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska. He joined FEMA in 2001 as the Director of the Region VIII Office. |
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Last updated on February 1, 2007
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