American Property Casualty Insurance: The Ten-Year Anniversary of Superstorm Sandy Underscores the Need for Flood Insurance & Increased Investment in Resiliency

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (TNStalk) -- The American Property Casualty Insurance Association issued the following statement on Oct. 28, 2022:

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The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) today released the following statement on the ten-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which can be attributed to Don Griffin, department vice president of policy, research, and international at APCIA.

"Ten years ago on October 29, Superstorm Sandy brought widespread devastation across the Northeast and laid bare the harsh reality that many homeowners and communities were not adequately prepared. In New Jersey and New York, homes, businesses, and local infrastructure in coastal areas were destroyed by the storm's massive wind field and associated storm surge. Many homeowners lacked flood insurance, which made rebuilding and recovering extremely challenging.

"Superstorm Sandy and most recently Hurricane Ian were devastating examples of the increasing property damage caused by these storm's high winds and life-threatening storm surge. As climate change intensifies these impacts, we need to increase our nation's resiliency against such threats. The insurance industry's overwhelming priority when disaster strikes is to help their customers rebuild their lives and restore their property. Protecting homes and businesses from flooding is a significant and long-term effort that starts with flood insurance.

"Flood insurance is a key element in ensuring the economic damages of extreme weather events are mitigated and that homeowners and communities are protected. Homeowners must understand that where it rains, it can flood, and the standard homeowners insurance policy does not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program and from private market insurers.

"Additionally, there needs to be cooperation at the federal, state, and local level to ensure that our infrastructure is prepared for future catastrophic events. After a storm, we cannot simply rebuild, we must rebuild better and stronger by elevating coastal buildings and implementing and following resilient building codes. We must also consider the long-term cost of rebuilding or putting new developments in high-risk areas and understand that insurance must be priced to appropriately signal where risk is too high.

"Superstorm Sandy, and now ten years later Hurricane Ian, are important reminders that more Americans need to obtain flood insurance and more work remains to increase our nation's resiliency against the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters."

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Original text here: https://www.apci.org/media/news-releases/release/73581/