Flood insurance
Via Truthout , (https://truthout.org/articles/flood-risks-are-rising-amid-climate-change-but-congress-is-delaying-action) comes a reminder of a perennial problem:
Floods are the most common disaster in the United States. And the 2020 hurricane season was the busiest to date in the Atlantic — 73 percent more “active” than normal, The Washington Post reported, with a record number of storms breaking ground on U.S. soil, totaling $37 billion in damage. The frequency of what is known as “sunny day” or “high tide” flooding (flooding linked to sea level rise and visible as water bubbling up from storm drains into city streets) is also on the rise. In 2019, the median flood frequency doubled from 2000 levels, up to four days per year. That median is expected to rise to six days this year. By 2050, high tide flooding could reach 75 days annually.
Given the heightened risk that the federal government’s own data reveals, delaying the implementation of a system that takes those numbers into account is like “putting your head in the sand and trying to ignore it,” Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the Wharton Risk Center at the University of Pennsylvania, told USA Today.
Don’t hold your breath.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/climate/chuck-schumer-fema-flood-insurance.html?searchResultPosition=1
There are two major classes of property flood risk involved. One is the long observed remote flood risk of people working to make a living in places on flood plains. Some such as Franklin VA are categorized by FEMA as 100 year flood plains and ineligible for FEMA subsidized flood insurance. Regardless of eligibility for FEMA subsidized insurance, these properties are inland along rivers and generally more of farming or other rural interests and not resort properties. The other class of property is in coastal resort areas and always eligible for FEMA subsidized insurance. Most of these high income property owners lease out their second homes for much of the year. So, these two classes of property owners are not treated the same. As in most things the rich people get a much better deal. People working to make a living in places that rarely flood get screwed, but rich people collecting rents where floods are routine from coastal storms get protected.