Post-Harvey, more Texans buy flood insurance

More Texans are buying federal flood insurance after Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast, according to a top Federal Emergency Management Agency official.

From July 31, about a month before the storm, to Dec. 31, policies issued to Texans grew from about 585,000 to 664,000, an increase of 13.5 percent, said Roy Wright, director of the National Flood Insurance Program for FEMA.

Wright said Texans are beginning to develop a keener understanding of risk, upending misconceptions that living outside of a mapped flood zone on an insurance map means they won’t flood.

About 70 percent of Harris County flood policies as of December were outside of the mapped flood hazard area, also known as the 1 percent or 100-year floodplain, Wright said.

That means those homeowners weren’t required to buy flood insurance.

“There is something in the DNA of Texans, there’s a self reliance that leads to a level of responsibility,” Wright said. “Seventy percent of my policies in Harris County are people who chose to do it. There was no mandate. They knew where their homes were at were susceptible to (flooding) even if it was a ‘medium’ hazard. We’re seeing that expand.”

But Wright also cautioned that not enough homes have been raised or removed from risky areas. Before the storm, the government had paid out nearly $200 million in “severe repetitive loss” claims in Texas over the entire history of the flood insurance program.

Severe repetitive loss properties have had multiple flood insurance claims worth more than $20,000 or totaling more than the property is worth.

Four months after Harvey, the total for such claims in Texas had risen by about 55 percent.