Facing increasing frequency and severity of floods and landslides due to climate change, Alaska Senator Bert Stedman proposes creating a state-run flood insurance program offering more comprehensive and affordable coverage to homeowners. The proposed program aims to address the costs and limitations of the federal National Flood Insurance Program, which many Alaskans find expensive and inadequate. The bill's language includes 'mudflow' as a type of flooding, potentially extending coverage to certain landslides. While the program's primary focus is on flood insurance, Stedman acknowledges the growing need for landslide coverage due to their increasing impact in the state.
Climate change is making natural disasters like floods and landslides in Alaska more common and destructive. While property owners can purchase federal flood insurance, they might be out of luck if a landslide inundates their home. One Southeast Alaska lawmaker has a proposal to offer a state flood insurance alternative that may include coverage for both floods and some landslides. State Sen.
Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said the state needs to offer its own flood insurance alternative because the federal government’s current policies are inadequate and expensive for many Alaskans. ‘They’re getting ripped off by the federal government on flood insurance. They’re getting that economic shotgun held to their head on how they can rebuild their properties that’s frankly unfair,’ Stedman said. He’s introduced a bill that would create an Alaska Flood Authority to manage a state flood insurance fund. His aim is to provide more coverage at a lower cost to homeowners as, which have experienced destructive or deadly landslides in recent years. The bill’s language includes “mudflow” as a type of flooding, which means certain landslides could potentially fall under the proposed state coverage. Stedman said that the Alaska-specific flood insurance policy would be a cheaper alternative to the federal program because it would be tailored to insure just the state’s floods, not the nation’s. ‘There’s a lot of problems with the federal flood insurance program,’ he said. ‘The first order of the day is to get the subject matter in front of the legislators and start educating them so they understand the premium ripoff that our citizens have been paying for decades.’ Most standard homeowner insurance policies do not cover flood damage. Flood coverage is typically a separate addition. Pretty much the only place you’ll be able to find that type of coverage is through the NFIP, or the National Flood Insurance Program. The federal government offers its own flood coverage becauseIn some coastal communities in Alaska, homeowners are required to have the additional flood coverage. Stedman said that can get really expensive. ‘The concern that we have is, especially along the coast, we’re pushed into this federal flood insurance program, but the rates that they charge are excessive,’ he said. The bill’s language says the authority wouldn’t be allowed to charge a rate that is “excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory” and the rates would be determined based on historical flood and damage data. There’s no fiscal note on the bill yet, but Stedman estimated it will cost the state several million dollars in seed money. Emil Mackey is an insurance agent in Juneau and knows his way around what policies are available for residents in Southeast. He’s excited about some aspects of the bill, but has doubts that the rates of a state program would actually be lower. ‘What you have to understand is the National Flood Insurance Program is subsidized by the federal government,’ he said. ‘If we create this, the only way to do that is to also subsidize the program. And I just don’t see the need.’ But what he does see the need for is landslide insurance. The mudslide language in Stedman’s bill is a start. Mackey chalked it up to the growing frequency of destructive landslides in the region, and how that’s changing the way insurers view risk. ‘Where the need is, is really for landslide insurance because we don’t have any insurers in the state that do landslides and I would like to see something like this,’ he said. Stedman said he hopes that landslides are a part of the discussion as the bill moves through the legislature, but they are not the main focus of the legislation
CLIMATE CHANGE FLOOD INSURANCE ALASKA LANDSLIDES STATE GOVERNMENT INSURANCE NATURAL DISASTERS
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