Not a chance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Progr...

>As of August 2017, the program insured about 5 million homes (down from about 5.5 million homes in April 2010), the majority of which are in Texas and Florida.[3][4] The cost of the insurance program was fully covered by its premiums until the end of 2004, but it has had to steadily borrow funds since, primarily due to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, accumulating $25 billion of debt by August 2017.[3][5] In October 2017, Congress cancelled $16 billion of NFIP debt, making it possible for the program to pay claims. The NFIP owes $20.525 billion to the U.S. as of December 2020.[6]

Is the conclusion that housing should not be built where Sandy’s damages occurred? That seems...unreasonable.

A significant portion of Texas and Florida need to realize that these damaging events aren't going to stop happening, and they need to either build stronger, or leave if that's not possible.

If I built a house that could not manage a foot of snow on it's roof in Maine without collapsing, and every year it collapsed got a big check from the feds to rebuild the exact same structure in the exact same place, surely someone would be willing to tell me I'm being stupid?

It's literally Einstein's definition of "insanity"

> It's literally Einstein's definition of "insanity"

That definition of insanity was not invented by Einstein, nor did he ever say it.

NB: Sandy did not affect Texas and had very minimal effects on Florida.

Texas and Florida might need changes, but losses from Sandy aren’t the reason.

Like anything non-hurricane related, either find a private insurer you can afford, or risk being uninsured and losing everything you own

This. I'm not sure why it works any other way. If the location is somehow critical to the local/regional/national interest than those entities can subsidize the insurance cost. But the free market should handle the situation. If people want to live somewhere that's fine. If it's too risky to insure, than they are on their own.

Sandy was an anomalous storm but could happen again. By the time storms reach the Northeast they’re weak, usually not even hurricanes at landfall. The Jersey Shore was very unprepared but new development is far more robust. Lots more dunes being built and protected too.

Can anyone even get (good) insurance in Florida at this point? I believe many large insurance providers have backed out of Florida over the past few years by making their rates so astronomical that there's only one obvious goal.

If people focused on functional/survivable structures, then it wouldn't be an issue. Initial construction might be 1.5x-2x the cost, but it'd be better than rebuilding every couple decades. But I guess they wouldn't be as pretty as they'd want.

Miami has the sturdiest residential construction materials of any city I have lived in. Cinderblock is extremely common.

It still doesn't save your home if you build at 5ft above sea level and a hurricane brings 15ft of storm surge.

All new construction in Sanibel, FL (which got hit hard by Ian) is required to have one floor of "sacrificial space" above which finished living structure can be built. In most homes this is a garage or above-ground storage room with no drywall, and all electrical connections at least several feet off the floor. This doesn't make storm surge cost-free and we have yet to see whether it was enough for Ian, but I doubt the storm surge reached more than 6ft.

I run a tugboat company. We are moving a barge and equipment to Sanibel Island right now. We expect months of work removing debris to the mainland and moving construction equipment to the island. The system is working as designed.

It was way more than 6ft at Fort Myers Beach which is the same area as Sanibel: https://v.redd.it/l0w7syf7zvq91

it was 8-9ft in that area I think

Of course it will still be a mess. Most of the pictures I've seen on the news have been stickbuilts that are completely trashed.

Kin Insurance covers my Florida property at ~$400k of replacement coverage with reasonable deductibles for $1800/year. I am not on the water, the property is significantly above sea level with a new roof, and I have done every mitigation recommended by the insurer (wall to roof strapping, water barrier between shingles and decking, shutter supports, etc).

That sounds affordable as long as you have a decent job.

As a point of comparison, however, up here in northern Illinois, you can get 2-3x the replacement coverage from a name-brand national insurance company for that price. And we do have tornado risk.

Which is to say that your insurance is expensive, but I wouldn't call it a barrier to living there. Much like property taxes - if you saw my bill, you'd probably fall out of your chair. Turns out the total cost is high everywhere. ;)

> only one obvious goal

Running a functioning insurance?

If you want to pay rates which allow them to rebuild your home for you every ten years (annual rate = your home's cost / 10), I'm sure they'd be more than happy to do it and collect their small profit.

Being realistic for a second this storm probably killed every remaining private insurer and Citizens (state ran last-resort insurer) will probably have to be bailed out.

> Hopefully insurance costs will not be extracted throughout the entire country.

Not sure about the US but in Australia flood insurance has skyrocketed nationwide after the last few years of extreme flood events, even people living on the top of hills pay more for general policies.

They're probably government insured. You're never going to change that because you only have to trot out one grandma and one family and you can spend unlimited amounts in indirect costs for them.

I would hope insurers are smarter than that