Mandatory Flood Insurance Purchase Resolution

Hazards and disasters community members attending the 33rd Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop raised a call for a resolution to have a mandatory insurance purchase requirement for residual risk areas included in the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007, House Resolution 3121.

A resolution was drawn up and signed by many of the workshop attendees on Monday, July 14. Others who would like to support the resolution are urged to write to the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Banking Committee.

The Resolution:

We the undersigned are attendees of the 33rd Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. We are a nationally recognized, diverse group of professionals dedicated to reducing losses and the impacts of disasters on our citizens and communities. We understand that the House and Senate are working out a compromise on HR 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007. Section 107 of the Senate version of this bill would require property owners located in areas of residual risk to purchase flood insurance. The house version of this legislation would only require a study of this requirement.

Every level of society has a role to play in reducing losses, from individuals to the federal government. Communities have invested in the construction and maintenance of levees and other structures to reduce the incidence and impacts of flooding. However, levee failures stemming from Hurricane Katrina and the recent Midwest floods demonstrate that flooding -- often catastrophic in nature -- can still occur in these areas. Suffering of thousands of home and business owners was compounded because they lacked flood insurance, not because it was unavailable, but because they did not purchase it. The factors that influence an individual's decision to purchase flood insurance are complex. It is imperative that the federal government be clear that there is always a risk of flood damage behind levees and in upper residual risk areas.

Therefore, we urge congress to retain the mandatory purchase requirement in the Senate's version of HR 3121. It is a reasonable and prudent approach to increasing citizen's ability to prepare for and recover from flood disasters.