In the News

The importance of a bipartisan effort for a stronger, more efficient National Flood Insurance Program was made plain this week in Houston.

It's been made plain before, too, in New Orleans and Biloxi in 2005; Lake Charles in 2005 and 2008; Lafayette and Monroe in 2016. It was made clear on the Jersey shore in 2012.

It was made clear, too, in 1927 across Louisiana. That's when the Great Flood chased lots of private insurers out of the flood business until finally, in 1960, homeowners could not get private insurance. That's when the federal government stepped up — a half-century ago — to fill that void.

Need more convincing of the NFIP's importance? Neither do we.

Hurricane Harvey started as an eclectic mess of a storm in the Gulf but got its act together in time to deliver a long, mean blow to the Texas Gulf Coast and inland communities. By midweek it had killed about 20 and imperiled the safety of thousands more. Damage estimates are in the tens of billions but who has time to count? There are still lives at risk.

U.S. Sens. John N. Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins and Mike Johnson, all Louisiana Republicans, are leading congressional efforts for a "Sustainable, Affordable, Fair and Efficient" — yes, it spells SAFE — reauthorization of the program and every part of SAFE matters. 

The bill would cap premium increases at 10 percent to keep them affordable. It would invest in mitigation efforts to limit flooding. It would improve mapping mechanisms. It would enable FEMA to crack down on contractors and vendors who commit abuse.

Those changes represent improvements but more change is needed. When responsibility is invested in the federal government, it does not relieve state and local governments or individual Americans of their own responsibility.

Part of the drive behind the NFIP was to ensure better and more responsible use of land to keep communities from allowing development in high-risk areas. Houston, famously, has no zoning and much of its flood plain is developed. Its metropolitan development has been made willy-nilly. More should be expected from responsible state and local governments.

Only 15 percent of homes in flood-prone Harris County, Texas are insured for flood; less than one-third of homes in high-risk areas are insured. That means the pool of insured is small, though the risks are big. Too many private homeowners roll the dice with flooding — and lose. A federal government $20 trillion in debt, $25 billion for NFIP, can't do it all.

It's unlikely the federal government will turn its back entirely on those homeowners. The government, after all, is us and we must be compassionate. But a revamped program must encourage more widespread participation and responsibility to keep NFIP afloat.

Let's start talking.