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Flood protection gap widens as fewer properties hold federal coverage
Roughly 8.4% of US properties fall into severe or extreme flood risk tiers, but only 2.4% have federal flood insurance policies, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Rising flood risk is outpacing federal coverage, with about one in 12 US properties facing severe or extreme flood risk, while fewer than one in 40 have a federal flood insurance policy, an Associated Press analysis found.
The study combined National Flood Insurance Program data with property-level risk modeling from First Street, counting roughly 4.5 million NFIP policies covering 2.4% of US properties, while 8.4% of properties are in the severe or extreme risk tiers.
The report also found the policy base is shrinking, with NFIP coverage dropping by about half a million over the past five years even as private capacity grows.
Flood professionals said the widening gap reflects more frequent and widespread flood events, and a shift toward more complex flooding patterns, including both pluvial and fluvial flooding, as described by Carson Post, national underwriting director for flood at ICW Specialty, in the analysis.