Flood Insurance Program Gets Two Week Extension From Congress Amid Record Midwest Floods

This content leverages data from USAFacts, a non-profit that visualizes governmental data. You can learn more on its website, Facebook, and Twitter.

The more than 18 million Americans in the flood-stricken Midwest won’t have to contend with a potential disruption of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) after the House of Representatives on Thursday passed a two-week extension of the program by unanimous consent to prevent it from lapsing at midnight Friday.

Thursday’s extension, which runs through June 14th, marks the 11th time since fall 2017 the program has received a short-term extension with Congress struggling to compromise on reforms to the program. The NFIP has been on the Government Accountability Office’s “high risk” list of troubled government programs since 2006 because of its high debt burden, which stands at $20.5 billion (despite Congress cancelling $16 billion of debt in 2017).

The spring of 2019 has brought historic flooding to much of the Midwestern U.S., as heavy snowfall from last winter (which set records in some areas) is melted away by warmer temperatures and rainfall. Flooding from the Arkansas River, Missouri River, and Mississippi River has caused billions of dollars in damage and driven thousands of people from their homes, and at least 20 people have died so far this year.

As these charts from USAFacts’ annual report show, the number of floods that received disaster declarations has been on the rise in recent decades, as has the frequency of those disasters exceeding $1 billion in damages:

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Chris Boswell)