We are back! From March 18th to March 24th, Chair of the MCCC Joe Rossi was on a national flood tour to spread the word of what we are doing in Marshfield for flood, and learn what is going on in the rest of the country and in the industry. We met with Caitlin Berni of CSFI in New Orleans and attended the NFDA conference in Phoenix Arizona. Here is what came out of each meeting:
Meeting with CSFI: Meeting with Caitlin Berni was a very informative meeting. After discussing each region and our own individual issues, we learned that overall, each region of the country is struggling with similar issues. Our concerns revolved around the new surcharges of $250 on second home flood policies starting with renewals after April 1st. Our focus was on how we make flood affordable and influence the 2017 NFIP reauthorization. What we learned is that Marshfield is clearly ahead of the game when it comes to flood reform. Talks to have Caitlin up to Marshfield had already begun, however she pledged to come to Marshfield later in 2015 to further discuss the national issues with flood, and report on 2017 reform efforts.
NFDA Conference: The National Flood Determination Association flood conference was more than informational. National leaders in the flood industry both public and private assembled in one location. Here are some statistics that we learned:
-Only 53% of flood policies that are required under the mandatory purchase requirement are being enforced
-There are many more policies written incorrectly than originally thought
-While doing a sample study with one insurance company in south Florida, it is estimated under the HFIAA, PRPs will go up 50% for second homes and those second homes required to have flood insurance could double or triple with the new surcharges depending on the zone
There is good news however:
-There is a Levy accreditation program called LAMP. It avoids pass/failing levees when looking to lowing the base flood elevation on a flood map. It gives credit for a 10, 25, and 50 year storm event. There is talk of having a LAMP like program for seawalls.
-A program called FRIS which was developed by North Carolina allows states like Massachusetts to input existing data into the system they run and would allow homeowners to better assess their flood risk.
– We talked to David Stearrett, the FEMA Flood Insurance Advocate. He is thrilled about our work in Marshfield. He mentioned his interest to come to Marshfield to better understand the issues we face here.
-We are working with Torrent, a flood insurance quote generator, to bring an end user flood quote generator to our website for homeowners to use with our assistance to better write their flood policies. The name of our program will be called Flood Verify
Overall, one thing was clear: Marshfield and CSFI are well known with industry leaders as leaders in flood issues. We are way ahead of any other Coalition in the country looking forward to 2017, and we recruited more individuals to help us in our efforts. A lot more will come out of our meetings as 2015 moves forward, and we will continue to work towards a better flood insurance program for you.
