Tag: Flood Insurance

To those of you in New York without power rationing gasoline that may happen to read this

Slabbed’s old Katrina wind-water insurance posts are getting a nice workout lately courtesy of google. As the name of this place implies we, as a cyber community, have a wee bit of knowledge on the subject thus these musing are born of personal experience.  I have a Sandy insurance post coming and I am noticing the insurance media and their plants are busy trying to dumb down everyone with the meme insurers do not know how to legally interpret one of their own policy clauses in anti concurrent causation. This post deals with the immediate present for you folks that do not have power and are faced with very limited gasoline supplies.

I’m not sure what’s worse, not having gasoline or power in the late summer heat for which the deep south is famous or in late autumn cold in the northeast but what I do know is it sucks. Bad.  Builds character too.  😉

Stay tuned.

SLABBED Daily – June 19

Editilla was cooking on yesterday’s Ladder! Here’s a sample, have a bite – but first, Editilla just sent this sizzle on the Ladder today:

4 Investigates: Corps employees masquerading as commenters?

Is the Corps of Engineers Astro-Turfing It’s Critics?

Speaking of turning up the heat, Sam Friedman asks, Is this Hank’s last stand?

Chip Merlin has warmed things up in Florida with his latest post:  The Dirty Secret of Exclusions Some Major Insurance Companies Like State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide and even USAA, Do Not Want You to Think About and a great one I missed: Depreciation Should Not Be Taken for Partial Losses That Are To Be Repaired

… from round and about:

A.M. Best Downgrades State Farm Florida; Outlook Negative (Insurance Journal)

Obama Insurance Views Mirror Those of P/C Agents, Insurers, Regulators (Insurance Journal)

Insureds Entitled to Additional Flood Coverage in California (Insurance Law Hawaii)

…and straight from Congressman Taylor’s blog: Nationwide’s two-page Wind versus Flood Q & A for Mississippi and Alabama h/t Brian Martin

Not exactly a beach book but a lot of interesting reading. TGIF

SLABBED Daily – April 8

The past that isn’t even past – and the present of Paul Minor no longer has miscellaneous text appearing at the end due to a late night “delete” key malfunction .  now-did-not-c-it until morning.

Another busy day ahead and a mixed bag of news. Two items merit more attention than time permits this morning.

One, from the Sun Herald, FEMA housing aid runs out for storm victims May 1.

The other is a Times Picayune report on flood insurance costs falling 5 percent in parts of Louisiana. Sop and I both have notes for a post on rate changes that are climbing elsewhere; so, you’re certain to read more about rates once our work schedules ease a bit.

If you’re hungry – for news or otherwise – try the Sun Herald story Former coast restaurants’ recipes never fail to please.

An item of personal interest on the Clarion Ledger ends this brief summary, Powe dropping pounds but raising hopes. Continue reading “SLABBED Daily – April 8”

Wiped off the map by “double trouble”?

Sunday’s Sun Herald completes the picture of the double-trouble flood maps with two weekend stories that illustrate the challenges facing post-Katrina coastal Mississippi and Louisiana.

Admittedly, it’s also a challenge for those of us who live inland to understand how much control the federal government has over coastal property owners and their communities – much less the eventual impact this control has on a coastal state.

Consequently, it’s important to understand the stated purpose of the flood zone maps is to set flood insurance rates, regulate development in flood plains, and let people know about the risk they face.  It’s also helpful to be fluent in  FEMA-speak, which I’m not, or at least be familiar with two key terms A Zone (flood hazard zone) and V Zone (high flood potential velocity zones) and forgiving of my overly simple translation.

In Louisiana, FEMA’s new maps have triggered complaints from several parishes that the elevation data put too many towns in flood zones – guaranteeing they’ll never rebuild and recover from the hurricanes of 2005 and 2008.

If you recall Sop’s post, Political tap dancing Ground Zero style  the tap dancing took place in Bay St. Louis when much of that community was about to be mapped off the map, so to speak.  Let’s start with the update from Bay St. Louis. Continue reading “Wiped off the map by “double trouble”?”

How do you spell “double trouble”? F-E-M-A-C-O R P S

If the idea of a partnership between FEMA and the Corps of Engineers doesn’t keep you up at night, nothing will.  Ugh, just as I was about to call it a night,  I found a message telling me that I missed a big story on the “F-word”.  h/t unowhour

A state coastal commission is mounting a strategy to persuade FEMA to back off its current timelines for implementing dramatically new flood zone maps across southern Louisiana so that alleged flaws in the data can be corrected.

The recently prepared maps, which would affect insurance rates and building elevations, are a rapidly emerging issue for parishes where flood zones are being re-evaluated since the 2005 and 2008 hurricanes.

State officials have asked Federal Emergency Management Agency to pause its map process to await new data. FEMA has refused…

FEMA’s recent correspondence with state officials clearly indicates a new day is dawning in the federal attitude toward insuring coastal parishes.

FEMA, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, is creating new digital flood insurance rate maps, called DFIRMS, which it insists are state-of-the-art. FEMA has been sharing the preliminary maps and discussing them with each parish.terrebonneparish1

Hellsbells, DFIRMS are DDEVIL himself – and the Cooperating Technical Partners Program dwolf in dsheep’s clothes.

FEMA is seeking qualified Partners to collaborate in maintaining up-to-date flood hazard maps and other flood hazard information. Continue reading “How do you spell “double trouble”? F-E-M-A-C-O R P S”

A Few Thoughts and Observations on Pelosi's Bay St Louis Visit

I haven’t had much time for blogging of late as other responsibilities have taken up most of my time. Before too much time slipped away I wanted to give some personal impressions of Gene Taylor’s Insurance Town Hall meeting held exactly one week ago. First, as predicted by the Clarion Ledger’s editorial board the event was indeed “a partisan rally for needed change.”
Courtesy of First-Draft

The political speeches on coastal insurance issues by Representatives Larson, Hoyer and Israel, all representing the coastal Northeast reminded me of this picture I found on First-Draft that accompanied their post on the NFIP re authorization.

During my relative absence from slabbed I noted this comment from Karen who is now feeling our pain on Long Beach Island New Jersey. So is her US Representative.

I live on Long Beach Island and have had State Farm Insurance since 1982. Ihave never had a claim and we have never had any damage from storms ever since my family owned the home since 1940’s. Continue reading “A Few Thoughts and Observations on Pelosi's Bay St Louis Visit”

Hallelujah We’ve Finally Finished the Insurance Page

Here at slabbed we don’t just blog about Katrina recovery issues of which insurance is the most important item, we also live the experience, beginning with the fight for our lives on August 29, 2005, through the recovery process to becoming consumer oriented insurance activists. Between holding down our day jobs, posting current issues and news and attending insurance forums and lectures our insurance page suffered from the lack of attention but no more.  Included with Gene Taylor’s Mississippi Law Journal Article from March 2008 are PDF’s of reference materials I collected by attending Representative Taylor’s lecture and Commissioner Chaney’s forum.

This quote from Representative Taylor’s article reinforces what I mean about us slabbers living the experience: Continue reading “Hallelujah We’ve Finally Finished the Insurance Page”

The Rest of the Commish Heavy News Day: New Wind Markets and the Bayside Bubble

I’ll attempt to kill two birds with one stone in highlighting the new wind markets available to coastal insurance consumers and the flood insurance problem that is popping with with increasing regularity on the coast, especially in Hancock County. The wind insurance news is both promising though somewhat insignificant in scope. The flood insurance news has the potential to strike at the heart of building affordable housing though our readers may be surprised at my take. First the new wind markets as reported in today’s Sun Herald.

Four insurance companies are offering wind coverage in the South Mississippi market, although restrictions apply. 

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he has recently approved the “surplus-lines” companies. Surplus-lines companies insure high-risk properties without state regulation of rates or any guaranty in case of insolvency.

They have been active for years in South Mississippi’s commercial market, but are now beginning to pick up homeowner customers as well. Continue reading “The Rest of the Commish Heavy News Day: New Wind Markets and the Bayside Bubble”

A Quick Tour

Over the past two weeks our readership has grown dramatically as we close in on matching our March totals in just 11days in April. Nowdy and I wish to thank our readers, especially our return visitors.

Like the March Report where I detailed some of our more popular posts for the month of March 2008 I thought I’d compile a list of my favorite insurance posts from the inception of the blog in December 2007.

We start by examining the concepts of weather modeling with some help from Sam Friedman over the National Underwriter. Small changes in the model inputs can mean big differences on your bill, as the Boston Globe noted in an editorial that we covered. The issues raised in the Globe editorial touch on the concepts of Market Transparency which is discussed here. Continue reading “A Quick Tour”