Hurricane Irene
Senate passes legislation for federal flood programPosted by RJ and Makay on Sep 09, 2011 |
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The Senate Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs yesterday passed its version of a bill to reauthorize and reform the financing of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Largely as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the program is $18 billion in debt. The new bill, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, is designed to keep the program viable through 2016.
Hurricane Irene, which left 22 people dead in the eastern part of the U.S., caused $5 billion to $7 billion in damage. The storm’s estimated cost to insurers is estimated to be between $1.5 billion and $3 billion, according to Jose Miranda of Eqecat, Inc., a California risk management firm. This compares to damage projections last week of $14 billion when Irene was expected to make landfall in New York as a Category 2 hurricane.
