Flood insurance worries abound at forum held in Lewisburg

Sept. 01--LEWISBURG -- The unfolding tragedy in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey wasn't far from the minds of those attending a public forum on flood insurance and mitigation Thursday night at Bucknell University.

More than 40 inches of rain fell in the Houston area, leading to mass flooding and a humanitarian crisis. The New York Times reported 39 deaths as of Thursday evening. FEMA is working to open 200 shelters to house 32,000 Texans.

More than 450,000 people were expected to seek disaster assistance after the storm.

A moment of silence marked the outset of the forum, scheduled weeks before Harvey made landfall. Approximately 35 residents listened as the state's Acting Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman called on Congress to support private market residential flood insurance in the anticipated reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Altman said Congress must make private coverage comparable to NFIP acceptable for federally backed mortgages and allow homeowners to switch from NFIP to private coverage during the policy year without penalty.

NFIP expires Sept. 30.

"Bottom line, if a consumer finds a better deal, they should not be penalized for taking it," Altman said.

Flood insurance claims topped 18,000 in Pennsylvania between 2006 and 2015, Altman said.

Flood insurance isn't covered by homeowner's insurance. It's traditionally purchased through NFIP. Premiums are rising annually, as much as 18 percent for residential policy holders.

"It will continue to rise until rates are actuarial sound. That's really scary," said David Buono, consumer liaison with the Insurance Department.

Mitigation is encouraged, such as raising homes on stilts or flood-proofing basements, moving utilities to ground level and filling in basements. Federal grants are available for NFIP participants but not policy-holders in the private market.

The Susquehanna River caused widespread damage in Lewisburg in 1972 when Hurricane Agnes swept through Pennsylvania. The river inundated the borough in 1936, too, and though it stayed in its banks in 2011, it caused creeks like Bull Run to swell and spill water into the streets and borough basements.

Altman pitched the potential for private flood insurance to drive down rising premiums homeowners experience through the NFIP.

The market is new. There are 17 licensed private companies in Pennsylvania that offer private market insurance plus another 45 out-of-state agents through surplus lines insurance policies.

Private market policies doubled to 3,000 in 2016, Altman said. There were 1,500 the year before. Pennsylvanians held about 60,000 NFIP policies in 2016.

Mary Forzani, of Winfield, purchased a home on North Front Street for her sisters. She bought insurance through a private company but later found out it's an NFIP policy.

That's a confusion many people face, Buono said.

According to Forzani, the property's premium nearly shot from $900 to $2,600 as Congress moved to eliminate subsidies in one fell swoop. The course was changed and subsidies are to be phased out gradually. That's left Forzani with a $1,700 bill for insurance and a premium bound to rise.

"Either I move everything up from the basement and fill it in with dirt or I just pay off the mortgage. That way, I don't have to answer to the bank," Forzani said.

Greg McBride owns two properties on North Fourth Street. He switched to a private-market policy when his rate with NFIP was slated to reach nearly $2,000. This year, the private policy jumped from $1,060 to $1,400, he said.

"If I had my choice, I wouldn't have it at all," McBride said of flood insurance, a sentiment met with approval by many who nodded or sounded affirmatively in agreement.

Buono encouraged those in the crowd to explore the possibility of private-market insurance.

Should someone wish to appeal a property's designation on a Federal Emergency Management Agency flood map, he directed them to call 1-877-FEMA-MAP (1-877-336-2627) or visit www.fema.gov/information-homeowners.

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