“We’ve seen all over the country that the FEMA flood maps aren’t necessarily the best predictor of where flooding occurs,” says Kristina Hill, an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley who studies sea level rise and other climate impacts on urban hydrology. A tropical storm hitting California in the dead of a hot and dry summer probably was not on FEMA’s flood-probability bingo card. That’s particularly true in California, which has swung between extremes of drought and deluge over the past decade. Michael Soller, a deputy commissioner at the California Department of Insurance, said in an email that the state “has been working to increase consumers’ awareness of flood insurance protection gaps.” Flood maps don’t reflect today’s climate risksįEMA taps historical, meteorological and topographic data to determine the likelihood of flooding from waterways as well as from storm-driven waves in coastal areas.īut the accelerating pace of climate change has outstripped those assumptions. But federal coverage rates are falling, with a 5% decline nationwide since 2021 “We’re seeing a lot of cancellations over the last two years,” says Saleh.Īmong Palm Springs’ nearly 24,000 households, just 167 were covered by federal flood insurance as of July 31, according to FEMA data. In the Northern California coastal town of Capitola, which saw its wharf wash away and homes flood last winter, only 66 of its 4,656 households have federal flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance Program writes 89% of residential policies in California though private insurance accounts for 42% of premiums paid, according to Moody’s RMS, due to the higher value of those policies. California’s record-breaking, three-year drought, which only ended with the past winter’s record-breaking storms, may have also made flooding seem like a distant threat. Even those who must buy flood insurance to obtain a mortgage may cancel in succeeding years, betting their lender won’t notice. Your home may also be located in a zone FEMA identifies as at lower risk from flooding.īut given California’s exorbitant home prices and rising insurance rates, many homeowners forgo flood insurance absent a requirement to purchase polices, according to Saleh. If you have a federally insured loan and live in a hazard zone, flood insurance is mandatory. “That means that these areas are becoming more and more vulnerable to flooding because of the change in the frequency and intensity of rainfall.” “Rainfall can happen anywhere,” adds Saleh, who analyzes climate-related flood risk. Even communities far from rivers and the coast face increasing peril. ![]() “Nowhere is safe from flooding in California today,” says Firas Saleh, director of product management at risk modeler Moody’s RMS. RELATED: Home insurer exodus: Are California lawmakers weighing a secret deal to keep Big Insurance from bailing on homeowners? 20, it dumped nearly a year’s worth of rain in a day on the desert community, causing widespread flooding in the surrounding Coachella Valley. ![]() ![]() Standard homeowners insurance policies don’t cover flooding and fewer than 2% of California households have flood insurance, even as intensifying winter storms overflow rivers and levees, batter the coast and drench the desert.Īs Hilary, the first tropical storm to strike the Golden State in 84 years, passed over Palm Springs on Aug. So when Tropical Storm Hilary inundated Southern California in normally bone-dry August, it showed just how exposed homeowners are to a growing financial risk from unpredictable climate-driven flooding. Californians know wildfires and earthquakes hurricanes, not so much.
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