With Hurricane Irene bringing severe storms and heavy rains to various parts of the country in recent days, flooding to homes and businesses is on the minds of many homeowners and business owners alike.
Flooding and, more importantly, flood insurance has been on the minds of those at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), as well. Specifically, the NAR is calling for the reauthorization of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
A typical home insurance policy does not cover flood damages that come as a result of storms. Instead, a separate flood insurance policy must be purchased to provide protection.
According to the NAR, water damage resulting from a hurricane is only covered by flood insurance, and this flood insurance must be purchased through the NFIP. The NFIP, however, expires on September 30, 2011, which will put “millions of homeowners at risk.”
“As the leading advocate for homeownership and housing issues, NAR believes that the NFIP is essential to a properly functioning real estate market, ensuring access to affordable flood insurance for millions of homeowners,” Ron Phipps, NAR President, said in a statement.
The NFIP provides affordable flood coverage to more than 5.6 million homeowners and business owners in the U.S., the NAR said, and if the program expires on September 30, it would be the tenth time in three years that it expired.
“We strongly urge Congress to speed passage of legislation to reauthorize the NFIP for the long term and end the current stopgap approach that has already led to numerous extensions and lapses of program authority in the past two years,” Phipps said.
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