By: Joe Rossi, Flood Specialist at Rogers and Gray Insurance and Chair of the Massachusetts Coastal Coalition Ed Thomas, Attorney, floodplain manager and disaster and recovery specialist The ABA in 2017 passed a Resolution on Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction in 2017. Recent flood disasters nationally have attracted more attention to proposals in the current Congress to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) consider policy changes and deal with the program’s accumulated debt.  There has been growing interest in the idea of “resilience”,  in the misery and mounting economic and environmental cost following hurricane and other flood disasters, in wildfires in the United States and worldwide, in water quality issues and the huge numbers of tornadoes in the past few years. The American Bar Association passed a Resolution concerning Resilience in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction in 2017.   This article is an effort to inform attorneys practicing state and local government law of issues concerning the NFIP and to raise awareness of the concept of resilience,  avoiding or reducing the risks of flooding disasters through climate adaptation and hazard mitigation   Noted demographer Dr. Arthur C. (Chris) Nelson has demonstrated that fully one half of the square […]

Hurricane Florence is expected to become a major hurricane by mid week, and threaten ALL of the east coast.  While a direct impact is expected around the North Carolina coast, areas up to New England can expect drenching rain and some wind.  We all need to pay attention to this storm.   In preparation, the MCC wants to remind you of a few very important things:   The MCC has a hurricane and preparedness section of its website. Just click the link to our downloads page and click the hurricane tab. https://knowflood.org/downloads If you don’t have a flood insurance policy, there is a 30 day wait for a policy to be effective. It is too late to purchase coverage for this event. Refer to the website https://cera.coastalrisk.live/ for the latest hurricane information. If you do have a flood insurance policy, remember that an NFIP flood policy will cover some costs to prepare for a flood and to move property to a safe location. According to the NFIP Flood Manual (Flood Insurance Manual, Policy Section, Page 9-10), “[The NFIP] will pay up to $1,000 for costs you incur to protect the insured building from a flood or imminent danger of flood, for […]

Possible Lapse Approaching for National Flood Insurance Program As of the writing of this message, Congress has not yet extended the National Flood Insurance Program, which expires at midnight on Tuesday, July 31st. The NFIP is no longer tied to the Federal budget, therefore requires its own bill to move forward. No major reforms are expected during this reauthorization, and we expect the eventual extension to move the NFIP expiration date to September 30th 2018. This will continue to be an issue as Congress intends to only pass short term extensions for the foreseeable future. FEMA has issued guidance for insurance companies on how to handle writing new flood policies, policy renewals, and claims during a flood program expiration. The MCC has created consumer guidance for you as an insured to know what to do before, during and after a flood program expiration. Overall, our guidance outlines that: -If you have a flood policy renewing after July 31st, and within the next few weeks, PAY IT NOW -If you are planning to close on a home after July 31st, PAY FOR THE POLICY NOW. If paid before the program expires, the policy will still go effective on the closing during […]

The MCC Is Now A Non Profit The Massachusetts Coastal Coalition is proud to announce that we have received our 501c3 nonprofit status! This means that donations to the Coalition are now tax deductible. We are funded 100% grass roots, and your donations help us continue doing work such as our 2018 spring outreaches which brought post-disaster information to hundreds of residents all across our state. Find us now on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube as the Massachusetts Coastal Coalition (links to each of these are at the bottom of each of our emails) Click Here To Donate Today! Claims Survey The MCC is working to improve the claims process. As a result of your input at our outreaches, we are supplying information on what went well and what didn’t go well in the NFIP claims process. Click HERE to take the survey NFC Recap Chair and Executive Director of the MCC, Joe Rossi, spoke on three expert panels at the National Flood Conference. In his remarks, Joe received national praise for the work the MCC has done on educating citizens about new maps, post-disaster outreach and more. View Joe’s notes from the conference (On the “Presentation” tab) Click HERE for […]