Flood insurance program expires - again

[jobwithout]

Source: South Florida Business Journal

Congress has once again allowed the National Flood Insurance Program to expire, halting any new flood coverage and home closings that require such coverage until lawmakers take action.

The U.S. Senate does not reconvene until April 12, which means the program, known as the NFIP, could be in hiatus for at least 14 days. The program expired March 28.

Last time the Senate let it expire Feb. 28, they renewed it two days later, creating a small delay in home closings for some borrowers.

Lenders require someone who is purchasing a property considered in a high-risk flood zone to have flood coverage before it can close on the mortgage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency released a letter to insurance agents and companies Monday explaining that insurance companies can not renew or issue new flood policies as part of the flood program because the NFIP operates under authority from Congress. The program expired at midnight March 28.

Read more: http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/03/29/daily25.html

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Glad Im not living in the Northeast with all the flooding going on.

[Cal Carpenter]

1. So do I get a refund

for the period of time the program doesn't exist? I've paid through July :shrug:

I wish FEMA would redo the maps in my area - they haven't reviewed it in decades from what I understand. There's a stretch of about three blocks in my town that has to have it, and that's where I live. But there have been engineering changes to the waterway (read: small underground creek) that is the alleged flood threat.

It costs three times as much as my homeowners insurance, it's so annoying!

eta: I suppose my complaining is a little insensitive given that there are people who truly need it!

[nyy1998]

2. Problem is, I am in the New England.

I haven't been hit hard at all, but a lot of my friends have been.