Flood Insurance Premiums Going Up In Gulf Coast
By Leighanne Lockhart, The Sun Herald | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The increases, the result of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, will be based on individual circumstances, Pascagoula Operations Manager
The act also reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program until
By August, subsidized flood insurance policies around the nation will be eliminated and rates based on risk will be implemented, Mitchell said.
The NFIP is administered
by
A policy's rates will then be based on a property's elevation and risk factors according to the flood zone maps for their areas.
Mitchell said many Coast homes built prior to
Mitchell said the changes to the program will lessen the need for mitigation grants because the rate increases will come closer to covering actual losses and damage.
"The homeowner will actually be shouldering most of the burden of paying," Mitchell said.
Ninety-five percent of
As of
Local real estate agent
"We're still dealing with insurance increases after
Mitchell said although the local governments and the state Legislature can't do anything to prevent the changes, being part of programs such as the community rating system, which
Ramm said she expects to see fewer property sales in coastal counties because people simply can't afford them.
"We're going to see more and more of people commuting to the Coast for work from northern counties," she said. "It's going to be a lot harder to sell (real estate) down here."
Mitchell said the act is designed to make the NFIP solvent, and he believes from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, it probably needs to be done.
"But personally, I have mixed emotions about it because of the effects it will have on the citizens of my city," he said. "There is going to be an increased cost of living in the area."
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