FEMA — Some Think its in Desperate Need of an Overhaul

Hurricane Milton — according to early estimates — is going to see insured losses hit somewhere around $50 billion. Estimates are landing somewhere between $8 billion and $10 billion for Hurricane Helene that hit Florida a few days before Milton.

On October 2nd, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not have enough money to get through the rest of the hurricane season.

That set off a different kind of storm — political.

Politicians around the country are now using both hurricanes as political fodder to paint the other party as being irresponsible when it comes to providing relief. The short-term spending bill passed in September included $20 billion more for FEMA’s disaster relief efforts.

And to date, FEMA has given $441 million to Hurricane Helene’s victims and over $349 million in public assistance.

Right now it’s hard to say who’s right about how the funding is distributed and how much is available. It just depends on your news source. That said, it really ought not be a political issue at all and both parties should be working together to help those whose lives have been devastated by not just one, but two, hurricanes.

There are — however — serious issues at the FEMA run National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) whose funding is always problematic. One critic of the NFIP is FEMA’s former deputy administrator, Daniel Kaniewski.

He served in that position under President Donald Trump. Kaniewski — who now is a managing director at Marsh McLennan — said changes need to be made to make the cost of flood insurance more affordable for homeowners and renters.

He said FEMA has laid out plans but Congress hasn’t acted.

“Until there are reforms made to the NFIP, we’re going to be dealing with this situation again and again in the future,” Kaniewski said and noted just 4% of homes in the U.S. have flood insurance.

Not only that, very few people are aware that help is available to help the purchase flood insurance.

“Very few communities are taking up these innovative flood programs because either they don’t realize the risk exists, or they’ve grown dependent on the government programs,” Kaniewski said.

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/4f3lDJN