Hurricanes and the National Flood Insurance Program: Is Congress Paying Attention?

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides flood insurance to people living in flood-prone areas. Implemented through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the program makes insurance available in flood-prone communities that adopt and enforce floodplain management standards. In principle, federal flood insurance becomes an incentive for communities to reduce their overall flood risk. Indeed, FEMA estimates that the floodplain management measures that the NFIP induces save the nation $1.87 billion per year in flood damage. Nevertheless, federal flood insurance has more often become an incentive for people to build and develop in risky areas, putting the whole program on shaky financial ground.