What's going to happen to actuarial assessments for flood insurance on the Houston flood plain?

Really? Only 15% had flood insure. Oh man, that’s bad, really, really, bad. I don’t know the answer to this Q. but I do agree that the government should not supply cheap insure. to those that choose to live on a major flood plane. here it is fire insure. must have it, and it’s pricey because we live in a high risk wildfire zone.

Well, the risk assessments will go up :-)

As we know from the Obamacare history, the government cannot FORCE people to buy insurance, no matter how sensible it might be. Mortgage companies can, of course, but not everyone has a mortgage.

While I am sympathetic to the poor people flooded out of their houses today, I do have to ask – what were they thinking when they bought houses next to bayous? Why wouldn’t they have bought insurance?

You’re doin’ a heckuva job, Brownie…..

It’s a little counterintuitive but many of the risk assessments may go down. Flood mitigation programs will likely be implemented reducing the overall risk. Areas that were considered high risk may get downgraded based on how they were affected. Since this event has just happened and there was no history of an event like this the odds of a repeat are smaller than they were just before the event. After such an event people are less likely to rebuild in flood prone areas decreasing the shared risk even further.

My thought is the area was a flood plain before the hurricane, it is still a flood plain. The actuaries wont change their assessment BUT more people will be in the market for flood insurance.

It’s true that government can’t compel people to buy flood insurance, But it’s a very good bet that from here on out, no one in the flood zone will be granted a mortgage or funds for rebuilding absent flood insurance.

I suspect that flood insurance premiums will continue to rise for everyone – and that’s not a metaphor.

If you live in a flood zone like V or A, or whatever the letters are, I don’t remember, then your mortgage company will require flood insurance. Thing is close to half of floods happen in non flood zones. Nothing is really not a flood zone, but for instance Zone X insurance wouldn’t require it. My house flooded when I lived in zone X. The grading at the front of the house was crappy, and when a big storm came through the water came pouring in. When I bought the house I asked the inspector to put the grading on the report, and he said he doesn’t do that. Now I know they are supposed to. Incompetence. I hate being tight. It took 4 years, but then finally I flooded.

Another house they fucked up the floor height for my house. We insisted they put in gutters and French drains, and thank goodness we did, because we had record rains like nothing I’ve ever seen and I’ve been through probably 8 or 9 hurricanes. Not one drop of water came in.

Moral of the story, developers, builders, states, and the counties need to change their standards for development and assume more potential flood waters. A little extra dirt to raise houses when being built. Better requirements for run off. Better engineers.

@ARE_you_kidding_me

Since this event has just happened and there was no history of an event like this the odds of a repeat are smaller than they were just before the event.

ARE_you_kidding_me

I think if folks review the frequency of these events in the Houston area they will be shocked. And there can be little doubt that the frequency and intensity of these storms is almost guaranteed to be on the uptick.

Yeah.. About that….

I swiped this from wikipedia and reformatting it is going to be a nightmare.

December 6–9, 1935 – A massive flood inundates Houston, killing eight people; the Harris County Flood Control District is created in the aftermath.

September 11, 1961 – Hurricane Carla struck the Texas Coast to the east of Port Lavaca, Texas, bringing heavy rainfall and wind damage to the Houston area.

August 18, 1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits Houston and Galveston.

October 15–19, 1994 – The Great Flood of ‘94 Hurricane Rosa leaves a stalled tropical depression over north Houston for a week. With over 30 inches of rain recorded in some places of Harris County, 20 inches in a number of hours, and maximum recorded stream flow volume at all recorded stations in the history of the San Jacinto River. The result was the highest flood levels of the San Jacinto basin to the present day, devastating the north side of Houston and killing 22 people in Texas. Petroleum lines bursting and setting aflame injured another 540 people.

June 5 – June 9, 2001 – Tropical Storm Allison devastates the Houston area flooding much of the city including the Central Business District, several cultural institutions and major hospitals and research facilities in the Texas Medical Center. The storm is called a 500-year event.

June 19, 2006 – Major flooding in Southeast Houston causes homes and roads to fill up with water. This was the most rain since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001

September 13, 2008 – Hurricane Ike passes through city causing flooding, wind damage and widespread power failures.

May 25 – May 26, 2015 – Historic Houston Flood Devastating storms floods most of the city.

April 18, 2016 – The 2016 Houston floods took place in nine counties near the city.[17]

August 2017 – Hurricane Harvey devastates the city, flooding homes and roads.

I’m back to this Q again, because I remembered that when I was looking for houses about 4 years ago in FL the flood insurance for coastal properties was astronomical. People already living in a home with flood insurance were paying a decent rate, and grandfathered in for a very slow rise in payments, but a new owner came in having to pay thousands.

Then I heard the federal government changed it, because homeowners were complaining they couldn’t sell their houses. I don’t know how accurate that is, but my point is if this is the case I think the government will artificially keep the rate down somehow, even if it goes up somewhat.

@JLeslie in certain counties in North Carolina the flood insurance on a per month basis exceeds the mortgage. Mortgage of $1300 a month and the insurance is over $20,000 a year ($1700 a month)

You cannot opt out on flood insurance if you have a mortgage from a federally controlled bank or lender.

^^You have to get flood insurance if you’re in certain zones. I didn’t need to get it on any of my houses, because I was always in an X zone.

The area I’m referring to is North Topsail Island on the coast looking at the Atlantic. They have lost many homes in the last ten years to storms and hurricanes.

Oh, my mistake. Yes, if it’s coastal, or has a history of flooding a lot, then flood insurance is required by lenders.