WorldWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Flood damage in Texas from Hurricane Harvey may equal that from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, said an insurance research group on Sunday. Hurricane Katrina resulted in more than $15 billion in flood insurance losses in Louisiana and Mississippi that were paid by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a federal program that is the only source of flood insurance for most Americans. Wind damage from hurricanes is covered by property insurers; flood damage is not. For flood damage, property owners must turn to the NFIP, which backs flood policies sold and serviced by private insurers, including Allstate, Assurant and others. A national poll by the Insurance Information Institute in 2016 showed only 12 percent of people in flood-prone coastal areas had flood insurance, down from 14 percent in 2015.

Source: Sunday Times August 28, 2017 02:26 UTC