National Flood Insurance

National Flood Insurance Program Extended

3-month extension became law 12/6/03

After much legislative maneuvering, the House and Senate have agreed to a three-month extension of the flood insurance program. Last year lawmakers forgot to fund the program, leaving thousands of people high and dry.

Run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the program helps homeowners living in flood-prone areas obtain insurance at a reasonable cost. It insures about 4.4 million policyholders in some 20,000 cities throughout the country.

The Senate originally had passed a 12-month extension of the NFIP. But the House insisted on a shorter time frame in hopes of forcing the Senate to consider reforming the way repetitive claims are handled. At issue is that, according to FEMA, 40 percent of the $11 billion in flood insurance claims payments that have been made since the program was started in 1968 have gone to repetitive loss properties.