United States: This law could stem the rising costs of flooding

By Justin Worland​

Flooding disasters have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years, destroying homes and taking lives. In 2014, floods in the U.S. caused nearly $3 billion in damageand took 38 lives. But when it comes to property damage, the federal government is often left with the bulk of the bill.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)—the federal program charged with supporting communities vulnerable to floods—mandates insurance for any vulnerable homeowner, no matter how poorly located or built their home is. And those costs have added up—the NFIP currently owes $24 billion to the U.S. Treasury.

Now a bipartisan pair of congressional representatives have introduced legislation, shared exclusively with TIME, that is aimed at restoring the program’s solvency—or at least bringing it closer. The legislation, called the Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act, would require local communities to identify properties likely to experience frequent flooding and implement plans to reduce that risk. Those plans could take the form of anything from voluntary buyouts—paying people to leave their flood-vulnerable properties—to reviewing development plans to ensure that new homes and buildings aren’t built in a flood danger zone.