Flood

Background

Flooding is the most expensive type of natural disaster affecting the United States, with its impacts felt in both coastal and inland areas. As sea levels rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, the risk of flooding is expected to grow, making it essential to take proactive steps to manage and mitigate these threats. The consequences of these risks can be devastating, not only for communities directly impacted by flooding but also for the broader economy, which bears the cost of recovery and rebuilding efforts.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) plays a crucial role in helping property owners, renters, and businesses by offering affordable flood insurance and encouraging communities to adopt effective floodplain management practices. However, the program has been under increasing financial strain as the intensity of storms, such as hurricanes, continues to rise, leading to substantial claims payouts. As the NFIP struggles to cover these costs, it has had to borrow billions from taxpayers to stay afloat. This growing financial pressure highlights the urgent need for improved flood resilience and preparedness in vulnerable areas. SmarterSafer strongly advocates for a long-term reauthorization of the NFIP to ensure its sustainability and better support communities in the face of escalating flood risks.

Solutions

• Mitigation is the best long-term defense against flooding. An NFIP reauthorization package and others should include language that authorizes the necessary funding to improve mitigation measures in areas susceptible to flooding and should place a particular emphasis on green, nature-based, and resilient infrastructure.
• Congress should prioritize aiding flood-prone communities by passing legislation that mandates the updating of flood data, allocates grants for infrastructure projects aimed at flood mitigation, and enforces penalties for non-compliance with these measures. These actions would help lessen both the severity and financial impact of floods while facilitating quicker recovery for affected communities.
• Any NFIP reauthorization package should include measures that allocate funds to assist with updating floodplain mapping in areas susceptible to flooding. Legislation that accelerates the generation of new and modern maps, including through the use of best-available technology, will help communities better identify and communicate present and future risks. Communities impacted by flooding must be better informed of accurate levels of risk in order to plan for future disasters.
• Congress should focus on encouraging private sector involvement in flood insurance and prevention by including measures in any NFIP reauthorization package that promote private investment. This would allow for greater flexibility in coverage options, such as permitting private flood insurance to meet continuous coverage requirements and help strengthen overall flood resilience.
• Congress should focus on ensuring that federally funded projects account for future flood risks by incorporating resiliency and mitigation measures in their planning. Any NFIP reauthorization package should include requirements for regularly updated data and mapping to accurately assess flood risks, while also recognizing communities that have made investments in resilient infrastructure and flood mitigation.
• Congress should focus on discouraging future development in high-risk flood areas by ending NFIP subsidies for newly constructed properties in such zones. This would help reduce the financial incentives for building in flood-prone areas while ensuring that any future means-tested assistance programs are available to support families impacted by these changes. Further, Congress should resist any effort to diminish rules and regulations that address this priority.
• Many individuals living in flood-prone areas do not purchase NFIP or private sector flood insurance policies. SmarterSafer welcomes legislation that would seek to increase the purchase of flood insurance policies by requiring property owners in flood-prone areas to purchase flood insurance. Congress should consider a number of approaches to address this issue, including but not limited to a study on the expansion of the current mandatory purchase requirement and an expansion of floodplains that more accurately reflect risk borne by communities.
• Congress and the administration should support efforts to require smarter building criteria to reduce flood risk, such as higher elevation standards in the special flood hazard area, incorporating standards to safely site and design critical infrastructure, discourage the development of natural floodplain buffers, and prohibit ongoing fill and build practices.
• Congress should work to pass legislation that includes future climate change impacts, such as extreme storms and rising sea levels, in flood risk maps. This would enhance their effectiveness in discouraging development in areas currently at risk of flooding, as well as in those vulnerable to future flooding.
• Congress should work to pass legislation that requires disclosure of past flood damages and ongoing flood risks to home buyers and renters to ensure that residents can make an informed decision about a prospective home and adequately protect themselves from future flood risks.
• Congress should work to pass legislation that expands flood mitigation support and access to buyouts available to NFIP policyholders through the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage, especially for properties subject to repeat flooding.
• Congress should maintain FEMA’s Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS), established to manage future flood risks and advance resiliency measures across the federal government.