Following record-setting levels of rainfall in the Carolinas from Hurricane Florence, businesses both in and outside of affected areas will likely be reviewing their flood coverage to assess how it will respond to adverse weather events. Although private flood insurance is on the rise, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) remains by far the biggest source of flood coverage in the U.S.

NFIP was created in 1968 to address the problem of disaster relief costs and is administered by a department of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For participating communities, NFIP makes federally subsidized flood insurance available in special flood hazard areas. NFIP policies can be purchased directly from the government or from private carriers through the “Write Your Own” program.

Commercial policyholders under NFIP can obtain coverage for up to $500K for a building, and up to an additional $500K for certain types of personal property. These are single peril policies – they only cover direct physical damage caused by flood up to the property’s cash value. Notably, NFIP does not provide business interruption coverage for lost profits due to a shutdown of an insured’s operations. These limitations highlight the need for excess flood insurance coverage, as many businesses will need more than $500K in commercial property coverage; coverage for business interruption arising from flood; and coverage for the full replacement cost of lost property, rather than just cash value.

We have previously written about NFIP’s efforts to remain solvent in the face of multibillion-dollar flood insurance losses over the last 15 years. Last year, Congress passed a bill to forgive $16 billion owed by NFIP to the U.S. Treasury in order to ensure the program remains solvent. The program is currently authorized through November 30, 2018, as a result of seven temporary extensions by Congress over the last year. These steps by Congress reflect bipartisan support for a program that provides an important role in disaster recovery, but consensus has not yet developed around new long-term legislative reforms. This year, FEMA has introduced several changes to the program intended to manage its exposure, including loosening restrictions on private policies in the Write Your Own program, reducing compensation for private insurers who sell NFIP policies, and purchase of reinsurance for the program. We will continue to monitor the effect of these changes, as well as new initiatives and their impact on policyholders.