Tennesseans who opt for coverage through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program will start seeing new rates, now that the agency has overhauled its old pricing method with the goal of making it more equitable.
“Over the past years and even decades, many lower-value, lower-risk homes, have been actually overpaying for flood insurance,” says Laura Lightbody of the Flood-Prepared Communities initiative at nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts.
“Often subsidizing those higher-risk, higher-value homes, who have not been paying their fair share.”
Tennessee averages more than 100 floods per year and spends hundreds of millions of dollars on recovery. There are about 27,500 active federal flood insurance policies statewide. But nearly 2.5 million properties in Tennessee aren’t covered under FEMA’s program.
Of those who do have policies, 7,581 will see immediate decreases. A small portion will see decreases of more than $100 per month. Most policy holders, about 16,316, will either see no change or an increase of up to $10 per month. The remaining will see increases of $10 or more.
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