On the September 25, 2017 episode of Illinois Public Media's Legal Issues in the News, Professor Jay Kesan spoke about the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and their role in the wake of the recent hurricanes.
"In the continental United States, the clouds are parting, and communities along the Gulf Coast can finally survey the devastation caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
"After causing total losses of around $150 billion, they are currently the third and fourth costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, coming right after Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012. The amount of insured losses is estimated to be around $40 billion for each of the two hurricanes.
"Private insurance companies often cover property damage from wind and rain, but exclude flood damage from their policies. Floods are hard to predict and can cause a lot of destruction in a single event, and paying out a lot of claims at once can endanger an insurer’s solvency, so insurance companies just stopped covering flood damage."
Listen to the full episode.