On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast region,
causing intense winds, high rainfall, waves, and storm surge, as
well as economic disruptions in states throughout the Northeast and
the mid-Atlantic region. Communities in New York, New Jersey, and
Connecticut were particularly hard hit. The devastating floods
exposed vulnerabilities in the region's public transportation and
infrastructure and underscores the nation's growing exposure to
coastal hazards. The full economic cost of Sandy will not be known
for years, but current preliminary estimates of physical property
damage, not including flood losses likely to be paid under the
government's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), range from
$30 billion to $55 billion, of which about $16 billion to $22
billion will be privately insured losses. Sandy is expected to
require substantial federal disaster recovery assistance, including
tens of billions for flood and hurricane protection and coastal
restoration. Given the geographic scope of heavily flooded areas
and residential take-up rates (number of flood policies divided by
total number of households) in affected coastal communities that
participate in the NFIP, government payouts under the NFIP are
estimated to be from $12 billion to $15 billion in flood claims.
This amount exceeds the $4 billion in cash and remaining borrowing
authority from the Treasury Department. The Obama Administration
has announced it will ask Congress to raise the NFIP borrowing
authority to $25 billion, or $4.025 billion over its current
borrowing authority. But some experts have suggested a $30 billion
borrowing cap would be needed to cover even higher projected
losses. Emergency supplemental spending on disaster assistance
comes at a time when Congress is considering spending cuts and tax
increases to address the nation's fiscal debt. In the wake of
disaster clean-up and recovery along much of the East Coast region,
policymakers, local officials, and other stakeholder groups have
expressed a range of flood management concerns facing the NFIP.
These include (1) escalating spending on federal emergency
supplemental appropriations for disaster relief assistance; (2)
uncertainty surrounding the NFIP's ability to reduce the nation's
growing exposure to flood losses; (3) rising population growth and
economic development in coastal watershed counties or floodplains
areas exposed to hurricane induced coastal floods; (4) persistently
low insurance participation (take-up rates) in the NFIP; and (5)
financing the cost of rebuilding communities stronger, more
resilient. On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed into law the
Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, P.L. 112-141,
that reauthorized the NFIP through September 30, 2017, and made a
number of reforms to strengthen the future financial solvency and
administrative efficiency of the program by raising historically
low premiums and reducing homeowners' incentives for rebuilding in
flood risk zones. However, several post-reform issues of contention
remain for congressional consideration: revisions in the analysis
and mapping of non-accredited levees; actuarial soundness, program
solvency, and affordability; debt forgiveness; an integrated
watershed flood risk assessment framework; and expansion of the
private-sector role in flood risk. This publication provides an
analysis of flood risk management, summarizes major challenges
facing the NFIP, and outlines key reforms in the recently enacted
Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The publication
also identifies and presents some key remaining flood management
issues for congressional considerations, and it concludes with a
discussion of relevant policy options for the future financial
management of flood hazards in the United States.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
