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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
600 AM EDT THU MAR 14 2019

...This week is National Flood Safety Awareness Week...

Today’s topic is Flood Insurance.

In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance 
Program, NFIP, in response to the rising cost of taxpayer funded 
disaster relief for flood victims and the increasing amount of 
damage caused by floods. Flood losses are not covered by your 
homeowners insurance policy. Local flooding can happen at almost any 
time of the year. Flooding causes more damage in the United States 
than any other severe weather related event, an average of $4.6 
billion a year from 1984 to 2003. 

You can purchase national flood insurance from private insurance 
companies and agents. In fact, you may be able to purchase it with 
a credit card. Currently, there are over 100 insurance companies 
that sell national flood insurance coverage, in addition to some 
60000 independent insurance agents. 

If the seller of the property has flood insurance coverage on the 
building, that policy can be assigned to the buyer at the time of 
closing. If the mortgage company requires flood insurance as a 
condition of the loan, the lender may escrow flood insurance 
premiums - making it easy to ensure that you will not get caught 
without flood insurance when a flood threatens your home. 

Anyone can purchase national flood insurance, no matter where you 
live, if your community participates in the NFIP, except in the 
coastal barrier resources system, CBRS areas. The program was 
created in 1968 to provide flood insurance to people who live in 
areas with the greatest risk of flooding, called special flood 
hazard areas, SFHA. In fact, under the National Flood Insurance 
Act, lenders must require borrowers whose property is located 
within such areas to purchase flood insurance as a condition of 
receiving a federally regulated mortgage loan. There is an exemption 
for conventional loans on properties within CBRS areas. 

Lenders should notify borrowers that their property is located in an 
SFHA and national flood insurance is required. 

The topics that we will focus on the rest of this week are... 
Friday...Flood Safety.

For more information on Flood Awareness Week use this web site...

https://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

If you need additional information, contact our Warning Coordination 
Meteorologist, Nelson Vaz, at nelson.vaz@noaa.gov or Senior Service
Hydrologist, Nancy Furbush, at nancy.furbush@noaa.gov.