PERSONAL: 'We have our lives' but no flood insurance - Helene survivors face uncertain future

Record ID: 1845877

  • Title: PERSONAL: 'We have our lives' but no flood insurance - Helene survivors face uncertain future
  • Date: 3rd October 2024
  • Summary: ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 3, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PAMELA BROUSSEAU SHOVELING MUD FROM GARAGE MUD IN WHEELBARROW (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAMELA BROUSSEAU POINTING OUT FLOOD LEVEL IN GARAGE, SAYING: "It came up to here. I'm surprised it didn't come through the windows. I mean it was pretty close, and the water was coming up from that way, which no
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2024 21:18
  • Keywords: FEMA Hurricane Helene Storm Helene Tropical Storm Helene disaster flood insurance flooding insurance
  • Location: ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
  • City: ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001917903102024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Libre (pronounced: LEE-bray) Brousseau and his wife Pamela were at the beginning of a long clean-up job on Thursday (October 3) after hurricane Helene sent water and mud tearing through their home.
    "I cried," Pamela Brousseau told Reuters outside her badly damaged home, her voice cracking with emotion. "I still cry. You walk into a place that you know what it looks like and then it's not there."
    The couple have been living at their home along the winding Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, for 11 years.
    When they first moved in, they were required to have flood insurance. But after three years, Libre Brousseau said the flood maps were redrawn and their home was no longer required to have flood insurance.
    "We're not wealthy people, so we opted out of that coverage," Libre Brousseau told Reuters on Thursday (October 3).
    They are not alone. Roughly 1 in 200 single-family homes in the region is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), according to a Reuters analysis of federal government data – a far lower level of coverage than can be found in the coastal and riverside neighborhoods the program was designed to serve.
    That is because the federal program is focused on the flood risks posed only by rising seas and swelling rivers, not the threat posed by the sort of extreme rainfall brought on by Helene.
    The storm dumped more than 35 centimeters (14 inches) of rain over three days onto western North Carolina, transforming mountainsides into mudslides and creeks into torrents.
    "Nobody was prepared for this, 30 feet of water coming down the valley was something none of us ever imagined," Libre Brousseau said.
    Asheville, the largest city in the flood-hit region, had in recent years developed a reputation as a climate refuge, drawing residents from more storm-prone areas.
    Among the new arrivals: the federal government, which moved its national data center for environmental records there in 2015. The facility was knocked offline by Helene.
    Private insurance companies see the area as relatively safe. The industry asked state regulators earlier this year to approve a 99% rate increase for coastal areas, but sought only a 4% hike for some of the mountain counties hit by the storm.
    Flood insurance was on the Brousseau's minds last week as Helene approached.
    "It was probably one of the first things we discussed as the storm was coming. Like holy crap. if it's $600 a month and you have a mortgage on top of that, it's just really hard to do," Pamela Brousseau said.
    Private insurers generally do not offer flood coverage. Instead, homeowners and businesses in flood-prone areas turn to the NFIP, which insures 4.7 million properties nationwide.
    Heavy rainfall events, such as the one brought by Helene, are likely to become even more damaging with climate change as warmer air can hold more moisture.
    Since 1900, precipitation in the United States has increased along with rising temperatures, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and that rain and snow has increasingly fallen in intense bursts.
    Mountain areas can be especially vulnerable to rain-triggered floods. A summer storm that lashed eastern Kentucky for four days in 2022 dropped up to 10 centimeters of rain per hour. The resulting floods swept away homes and killed 39 people.
    Residents affected by Helene who do not have that flood coverage will be able to apply for up to $30,000 in federal disaster aid, as well as loans from the Small Business Administration - though those can make up only a fraction of the $250,000 worth of coverage available through the federal flood program.
    (Production: Nathan Frandino)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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