More than 250,000 properties in the US have been reported to have repeat NFIP claims

More than a quarter of a million U.S. properties have repeated claims for federal flood insurance, costing the National Flood Insurance Program billions of dollars in damages, according to new federal data compiled by the National Resources Defense Council.

Four states account for more than half of the repetitive loss properties (RLPs), led by Louisiana with more than 43,000. Texas is the next largest with more than 41,000, followed by Florida (26,700) and New York (20,400).

Information on properties with repeated claims for federal flood insurance was hard to find until this year, when FEMA released data on properties with two or more NFIP claims.

NRDC, an environmental advocacy organization, used FEMA data to create a new mapping dashboard, Flooded Again, that provides data visualization of RLPs. While all 50 states have properties with repeated federal flood insurance claims, the majority of RLPs are located in states along the East Coast and Gulf Coast.

Anna Weber, a senior policy analyst at NRDC, said more homes are affected by flooding due to climate change combined with risky development and outdated infrastructure.

“Stronger hurricanes, more intense storms and rising seas are affecting people’s lives. We need changes at all levels of government to make communities safer,” Weber said.

Fewer than one in four RLPs had mitigation actions, such as elevating the building or waterproofing the first floor, NRDC said.

Only 13 percent of single-family homes are covered by federal flood insurance, according to Society of Actuaries estimates.

NRDC recommends that FEMA take the following steps to protect those with and without flood insurance:

• update NFIP’s national floodplain development standards to account for worsening flooding and curb risky development;
• ensure that flood risk maps are updated and take into account climate change;
• give them the authority to make flood insurance more affordable for low- and middle-income households;
• give homebuyers and tenants the right to know the flood risk of their new home.

Photo: Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images.