Less than 31% of properties in Charleston County had flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program last year, down notably from 38% just a decade earlier. And Charleston is not an anomaly by any means; Beaufort, Berkeley, Dorchester and Georgetown counties saw their percentage of property with this flood insurance drop as well. Along South Carolina’s coast, only Horry County had as high a percentage of properties insured last year as it had a decade earlier.
These figures should be cause for alarm for local leaders, because they appear to indicate South Carolina’s coast is less prepared for a serious hurricane strike — which produces the most serious flooding but certainly is not the only cause, as we’ve experienced with other storms.
Sean Dove, Charleston County’s floodplain manager, tells us he has no definitive explanation about why fewer property owners have opted to seek flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, though he notes an in-depth exploration of the issue would make a good master’s thesis. Some property owners might have chosen to get flood insurance through the private market rather than the federal program, but Mr. Dove doubts that many have.
“I would say the No. 1 barrier to flood insurance — and why we have seen a reduction in flood insurance — is the cost,” he tells us. “We have heard from some folks that they are just unable to afford it, and there isn’t anything else they can do about that. A lot of people are bearing the full brunt of the risk of a flood.” Also, the relative absence of serious hurricane flooding in Charleston County in recent years might have caused some to get complacent and not renew, “then you get that one storm that jolts everybody back to reality.”
The program’s new Risk Assessment 2.0 appropriately adjusted insurance premiums to more accurately reflect a property’s flood risk, and premiums are allowed to rise 18% a year until they reflect the government’s estimated risk. Program managers need to finish work on a new tool that will explain how these risks are calculated, as the tool will help people understand not only what they have to pay but also how they can repair and upgrade their home to make it more flood-resistant.
As the S.C. Daily Gazette reported, some might not realize they need flood insurance, partly because FEMA’s flood maps do not paint a complete picture of flood risk, as some residents in Berkeley County discovered after Tropical Storm Debby dumped an unusually large amount of rain, flooding their homes far from any coastline, river or lake. Similar stories unfolded in the mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina following Tropical Storm Helene, where only a very small percentage of homeowners have flood insurance and where many counties also have seen declines in the percentage of property owners with such insurance.
While homeowners who are in a high-risk flood zone are required to get flood insurance if they are financing their home with a federally backed mortgage, people who own their homes outright do not have to buy flood insurance, nor do those who aren’t in high-risk zones. That’s one reason we need new maps that more accurately reflect the risks from flash flooding from heavy rain, particularly along smaller creeks and streams inland.
In another step to increase awareness of flood hazards, the South Carolina Real Estate Commission recently added questions to a form mandating sellers disclose if their property has flooded and whether public or private flood insurance claims were filed, whether residents received flood disaster assistance or if repairs were previously made due to flooding. That’s helpful, but the federal flood insurance program also should make it easier and more transparent for would-be buyers to learn of previous flood claims; would-be buyers now may only request that information after they close. That’s too late.
The flood insurance process should not only provide a financial backstop to owners of properties damaged by flooding, but it also should provide an incentive for homeowners to take proactive steps to reduce their exposure to floods, such as elevating outside air conditioning units and limiting ground floor enclosures. And it should encourage residents to elect leaders committed to educating the community about these changes and improving its score in the community rating system, which can help lower flood insurance premiums.
But for these benefits to work well, we need a greater percentage of people buying the insurance in the first place. In this era of stronger storms and 100-year rainfalls that seem to occur far more frequently than once a century, fewer people should take comfort in the idea that the heartbreaking images and stories we’ve seen after Debby, after Helene and now after Milton won’t ever happen to them.
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