Norton Struggle Against New Flood Insurance Cost for D.C. Residents Close to Finish Line
Norton Struggle Against New Flood Insurance Cost for D.C. Residents Close to Finish Line
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today expresses relief at the House passage of the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010, which contains a provision to delay for five years the effective date for the mandatory purchase of flood insurance for certain new flood hazard areas, some of which are in the District of Columbia.
Norton said, "The least Congress should do is to delay flood insurance purchase requirements in the midst of a recession created by a mortgage crisis." Norton has been able to delay issuance of the new flood map in the District for two years by working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service. As a result, she was able to secure $5.8 million in federal stimulus dollars for a portable levee, relieving the District of this cost. A Norton appropriations request for $2.5 million, which is the amount the District fronted for part of this levee, is pending.
Earlier this year, FEMA updated its 1985 Flood Insurance Rate Map that identifies Special Flood Hazard Areas in the District and elsewhere. The map outlines potential flood zones in small portions of the southeast and southwest areas of the city, but mainly in areas surrounding the U.S. Capitol and monuments. The map will require residents and businesses within the 100-year flood zone to obtain flood insurance until the portable levee is constructed in the area around 17th Street and Constitution Avenue. This levee is expected to be completed a year from September. Norton is concerned that residents, particularly in southwest D.C., could nevertheless have to purchase flood insurance for a year, even with today's bill, unless the Senate also passes it well before the end of September. Consequently, she is working with allies in the Senate to help ensure final passage.
With House passage of the bill today, Norton said, "I greatly appreciate the quick and thorough work of my good friends Subcommittee Chair Maxine Waters, as well as full committee Financial Services Chair Barney Frank, on the provision to exempt homeowners from having to purchase flood insurance for five years. Requiring homeowners to purchase flood insurance policies, even temporarily, during the worst economic downturn in recent history, when many of them can barely pay their mortgages, would mercilessly burden homeowners."
Norton, who chairs the subcommittee with primary jurisdiction over FEMA and disasters has worked to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program since Hurricane Katrina showed what massive flood devastation can do to a community. She called Hurricane Katrina "a shocking wake-up call for wholesale flood insurance reform," but said that today's bill is essential in light of the hardship on residents and businesses in the midst of a recession.