Harvey’s flooding boosts insurance in Texas, but will it last?
Flood insurance policies up 18% from July 2017 to end of May.
Little more than two months before Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast of Texas, Alberto Castaneda let his home’s flood insurance lapse. He had never filed a claim on the policy in 10 years, and he needed the extra cash to expand his restaurant business.
Standing inside his suburban Houston home nearly a year later, Castaneda tallies the cost of the destructive floods to himself and his uninsured neighbors: one couple in their 70s let their home go into foreclosure; two people, overwhelmed by the difficulties of rebuilding, committed suicide; Castaneda, 52, ended up using nearly $135,000 from his business to cover repairs to his home, which Harvey submerged under more than 2 feet of water.
“It’s very devastating, especially if you don’t have the insurance. You feel like, ‘What am I going to do?’ ” Castaneda tearfully explained.
Castaneda bought new flood insurance after Harvey, and many others in Texas have done the same. But data from states with a history of extreme weather suggests those numbers will eventually drop off, leaving residents once again vulnerable to flooding costs — a situation the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it’s working to avoid.
Houston suffered the brunt of Harvey when it pummeled Texas last August. Harvey dumped nearly 50 inches of rain on parts of the flood-prone city. The storm killed nearly 70 people, damaged more than 300,000 structures and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the top elected county official, said more than 100,000 flooded homes in the county didn’t have flood insurance. According to FEMA, 80 percent of all households affected by Harvey weren’t covered for floods.
An AP analysis found fewer than 1 in 5 properties in high-risk