"I Don't Think We Could Live Here If We Had To Buy Flood Insurance". Exactly.

[hatrack]

EDIT

After the floodwaters had finally gone down Barrett and her family were cleaning out the damp and muddy house. On the front lawn lay chairs, a dresser, couch cushions, flooring planks and a pile of damp drywall. Similar scenes played out across the block as residents tried to clear out the soggy mess before mold set in.

North Port is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) inland and the Barretts – like many of its residents – live in areas where flood insurance isn’t required and therefore, don’t have it. Now many wonder how they’ll afford much-needed repairs. “Nobody in this neighborhood has flood insurance because we are a nonflooding area,” she said. “But we got 14 inches of water in our house.”

EDIT

There have long been concerns that not enough people have flood insurance especially at a time when climate change is making strong hurricanes even stronger and making storms in general wetter, slower and more prone to intensifying rapidly. According to the Insurance Information Institute, only about 4% of homeowners nationwide have flood insurance although 90% of catastrophes in the U.S. involve flooding. In Florida that number is only about 18%.

“We have experienced catastrophic flood events across the U.S. this year, including in Kentucky and Missouri, where virtually no one had flood insurance,” said the Institute’s Mark Friedlander. Hurricane Ian caused extensive flooding in areas outside of the high-risk zones. According to the consulting firm Milliman, roughly 18.5% of homes in counties that were under an evacuation order had federally issued flood insurance. In areas under an evacuation order that were outside of high-risk zones, 9.4% of homes had a policy.

EDIT

https://climatecrocks.com/2022/10/08/heads-up-red-state-republicans-will-be-wanting-all-you-damn-socialists-to-cover-their-climate-losses/

[mitch96]

1. People on low fixed income can't afford "regular" housing and old trailer homes are the only

way to live the dream in Florida. No insurance and Now everything is gone..
m
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127689323/hurricane-ian-highlighted-the-vulnerabilities-of-older-mobile-homes

[Srkdqltr]

2. Seems to me that all insurance companies should include flood insurance in eash home policy.

If everyone pays in the price would be less for home owners? That would raise more money and have more available in emergency. After all, that is the point of insurance.
Insurance companies should not be for profit anyway.
But that's just my opinion.

[jimfields33]

6. Yep. It's ridiculous that you need a separate policy for flood insurance

And you need a separate policy for sink holes. The insurance companies should wrap those up on the typical homeowners insurance policy so that everybody’s covered on all areas of the home and land.

[MOMFUDSKI]

8. The insurance companies have

bought and paid for the repub state house for 25 years now. There is no hope unless we can go blue again. Fat Chance.

[belpejic]

3. This is why Florida will crash

Insurance premiums. When the reinsurers give up the game is over, and that may only be a couple more catastrophic hurricanes away.

When the reinsurers won't backstop the insurers, the insurers have to decide whether to gamble and offer massively high rates, hoping that they can accurately judge rate payer demand, and knowing that they could get screwed at the next catastrophic event, or just GTFO of the market all together. Insurance companies tend to be conservative, what with all their actuaries, so bet on the latter.

Then all the big money in real estate starts to get out and that whole Ponzi scheme starts to collapse. When it happens, and your home is worth essentially nothing, and you don't know how you'll afford to fix it if it gets wrecked in the next big storm, what does Florida really have to offer beyond the services that support its population? Disney? I understand that the citrus growing industry has been hit by some sort of plague (it would be interesting to know if that is climate related), and the other ag-related components can't be that large compared to other states.

I guess the US government could backstop catastrophic events with more insurance, but at some point we need to say no and acknowledge reality. We should be encouraging people to get out of these areas sooner rather than later, and maybe even offering incentives to do so. Blue states should definitely not be subsidizing more irresponsible behavior from people like governor Fab Boots Desantis.

[hatrack]

4. Citrus Greening Disease . . . .

EDIT

Citrus greening, a disease ravaging citrus groves in central and south Florida, has been detected for the first time in north Florida, according to agriculture researchers. A tree confirmed to be infected with the disease was discovered in late November in a Leon County homeowner’s backyard, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Discovery of the disease is a foreboding sign for people in north Florida and south Georgia trying to grow oranges clear of the infected groves to the south.

Citrus greening is a bacterial disease carried and spread by an Asian insect that kills both fruit and trees, dealing Florida’s signature crop a devastating blow. Researchers and citrus growers hoping to at least slow widespread crop losses are striving to develop insecticides, treatments, and resistant strains of trees, according to the Florida Department of Citrus.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently forecast that Florida growers would produce 47 million boxes of oranges this season, down 11 percent from last season, and 3.8 million boxes of grapefruit — a fraction of the 244 million boxes Florida’s citrus groves produced 25 years ago.

Ed. - Emphasis added.

EDIT

https://floridaphoenix.com/blog/citrus-greening-killing-groves-in-central-and-south-florida-found-in-north-florida/

[mitch96]

5. "When the reinsurers give up the game is over" Exactly.. Also the banks will not give you a loan

If you don't have insurance. Who can pay cash for a home now if you are not wealthy?
Ponzi scheme or musical chairs someone is gonna get caught holding the bag when the time comes when Storms or water rise takes over the state. The University of Miami has predicted/modeled 1.6 million will be displaced by 2060 b/c of water rise.. ouch...
Unless your name is Kushner or Brady you're kinda stuck on where to go and afford.
YMMV
m

[jimfields33]

7. Entire country has some sort of disaster constantly.

Should wire fires be compensated since they happen year after year? Should droughts in New Mexico Arizona Nevada be compensated because it’s happening more and more? Should earthquake money be given because it happens at any moment and often? Should tornadoes be compensated because they could happen at any moment and they often do. Everybody looks to Florida, but really everywhere has bad weather and circumstances.

[belpejic]

9. This will happen in multiple places affected by climate change

Not just Florida. So yes, especially other places where sea level rise will be an issue and adaptation measures aren't being taken; where water scarcity will be an issue (the Southwest); and where flooding will be an issue due to greater severity of storms. Eventually we'll see depopulation in those areas as well, especially, IMHO, in the Southwest and in low lying coastal areas of southern states.

Florida, however, seems to be one of the worst examples of people whistling past the graveyard when it comes to what we'll see with climate change.

Oddly enough, we may see repopulation of the Rust Belt. The Great Lakes region starts to look pretty good when you start to consider the effects of climate change.

[jimfields33]

10. I see your point about Florida.

Obviously I live here so I’m sorta protective of the state. The state was deep blue just in the 1990’s so there’s hope. I live in Central Florida so for the most part it’s pretty safe. Most people are coming from Michigan and Wisconsin to my area at least. Most are selling their homes up there and buying new homes with cash. You can still get a decent home for 250 to 300 K. I always recommend people get a block home as it really is safe from hurricanes for the most part. Obviously an island off the coast of Florida, the risks are more. But that area hadn’t seen a hurricane since 1929. So if history repeats itself that area won’t have another hurricane until 2119 or something. Florida has a lot to offer and people recognize that and are coming here in droves.

[belpejic]

11. It's difficult to talk about climate change

I live in an area that is being severely impacted by it as well. Some areas will be able to adapt, especially if they're able to build smart public/private partnerships. Others, particularly in red areas where they won't accept reality, are probably doomed. Yet others will be doomed just by the realities of nature. I think this is especially true of ones severely affected by water scarcity and sea level rise.

Anyway, I appreciate where you are coming from and I so fervently wish we could get rid of your governor and get a little blue momentum going again.