Flash flood of common sense

Climate change producing rising sea levels and more frequent and violent storms has produced a badly needed change in climate regarding flood insurance.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency manages the federal flood insurance program through 60 companies and an option that provides for property owners to buy it directly from the government.

Multiple analyses in recent years have shown that the

program's coverages and rates do not represent reality on

the ground.

One problem has been that people with relatively low-value properties in low-risk areas pay rates that subsidize people with more valuable properties in higher-risk areas. In the Northeast, one of the prime examples involved people in the interior of New Jersey and Pennsylvania paying rates comparable to those for multi-million properties along the New Jersey coast.

Under a new rating system, that most people will experience with policy renewals this month, premiums no longer will be based on regional flood zone maps. They will be based on features of individual properties, including proximity to coastlines or rivers.

According to a FEMA analysis, 77 percent of policyholders will see their premiums increase; 23 percent can expect decreases. But that just reflects the degree to which the old pricing was skewed to subsidize the costs of covering the most valuable and highest-risk properties.

FEMA projects that 66 percent of policyholders will see increases of up to $10 a month, 7 percent will see increases of $10 to $20, and 4 percent will face increases of more than $20.

The new system far more closely reflects actual risk, which is how insurance is supposed to work.

-Scranton Times-Tribune