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Thursday, March 8th, 2018

America’s flood insurance chief has a message for all Floridians: You’re at risk

Author:     JENNY STALETOVICH
Source:     Miami Herald
Publication Date:     March 06, 2018 04:54 PM
 Link: America’s flood insurance chief has a message for all Floridians: You’re at risk
Stephan:   I have been telling you for some years that the sign we should look for in terms of sea rise and extreme weather events is stress on the insurance industry.  As this story reports the social outcome data shows this stress is now occurring. This trend is gathering momentum. This is the first step in the crash in the value of coastal real estate and areas subject to extreme weather events. Insurance will become impossible to obtain. This in turn is going to drive two of the three internal migrations in the U.S..

Brickell Avenue remained flooded after Irma passed on Sept. 10.
Credit: Miami Herald archives

If you’re a homeowner in Florida relying on flood zone maps to decide whether to buy insurance, you may want to check your driver license instead.

“If it says Florida, you need flood insurance,” said Roy Wright, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, which covers more policies in Florida than any other state. “It may be more helpful than trying to find the right map.”

Hurricane Irma is only the latest case in point, said Wright, who was in Miami Beach on Monday for an insurance conference.

When the massive storm churned toward Florida, hurricane-force winds extended 140 miles, nearly the breadth of the state. As the storm rolled across the Lower Keys, it pushed a storm surge across the islands and continued swamping the coastline as it moved north along Southwest Florida. Homes in Everglades City and Chokoloskee filled with mud up to five […]

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