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Flood Insurance
About NFIP and Flood Insurance
NFIP stands for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). It was created by Congress in 1968 because of the increasing payments made out by the government towards disaster relief for flood victims. This program is overseen or managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In communities that participate in the FEMA, this program determines the extent to which flooding might threaten the area in which the community lives. In doing so, the FEMA classifies flood threats as either minimal or severe, in which case the area comes under the Special Flood Hazard Area or SFHA.
In the United States more than 20,000 communities participate in the NFIP. Since they are part of this program, they have to follow the floodplain management rules as required by the program to reduce the damage caused by floods. In return for their enrolment into the program, the NFIP offers federally backed flood insurance to all those in the community - including homeowners, renters, and business people.
Comminutes that get into the NFIP benefit by not only just flood insurance, they also gain by a reduction in flood damage that is experienced normally in the event of floods. This is because the NFIP lays down rules for building construction, and buildings following these guidelines incur only 20 percent damage from floods, unlike constructions that do not comply with these regulations. This in turn helps the government because every $3 paid in flood insurance claims saves $1 in disaster assistance payments.
Another important task performed by the NFIP is identifying and mapping floodplain areas in the United States. In doing so they increase the awareness on flood hazard increases. Also, the data required for floodplain management programs are collected from this. This information is also used to rate the value of new constructions for flood insurance.
If you are living in a community that participates in the NFIP, you can obtain flood insurance through the NFIP. Check on this from other members of your locality and apply for flood insurance if you live in an area deemed as a Special Flood Hazard Area or SFHA.
Summary
FIP has ensured to not just provide flood insurance to communities that participate in the program, it has also helped to reduce the cost of flood damage by laying down better building construction rules. Buildings constructed according to these rules can better resist the damage caused by floods. This way less money and efforts are required to repair them.
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