NEW ORLEANS — Parish leaders from across south Louisiana filed into the federal courthouse in downtown New Orleans.
Thursday, Judge Darrel J. Papillion took up oral arguments and testimony in a multi-state, multi-parish lawsuit against the federal government.
The suit seeks to block sharp increases in national flood insurance rates under FEMA’s new Risk Rating 2.0.
Lafourche President Archie Chaisson said the cost of coverage has jumped from $500 to $5,000 in his parish.
“You throw that on top of a hurricane battered community where we are already facing high wind and hail insurance costs and everything else we’re dealing with, it just really is tough in somewhat of a sluggish economy,” Chaisson said.
Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove agreed.
“Rates are going up to where people can’t afford insurance anymore,” Dove said. “They’re having to refinance their homes to be able to pay their insurance and that’s totally ridiculous.”
There were two motions before the court, whether to dismiss the lawsuit altogether or to stop FEMA from using Risk Rating 2.0 while the lawsuit plays out.
Attorneys for FEMA argued the new rating system is an update that more accurately sets premiums to meet potential flood losses.
They also told the judge if set aside, policy holders in north Louisiana would go back to unfairly subsidizing policy holders in south Louisiana.
St. Charles President Matt Jewell testified the new modeling does not consider the billions of dollars in flood mitigation measures taken by local governments and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“St. Charles Parish is safer than it’s ever been in the history of our parish” Jewell said. “Yet, our premiums are rising drastically under this new program.”
In her closing state Solicitor General Liz Murrill who is a candidate for attorney general called the new modeling a slow-moving storm, catastrophic in its own right.
“FEMA wants to characterize this as nothing to see here, nothing more than tweaking our rates,” Murrill said. “In fact, it’s much more than that and it has far greater consequences than that.
After about a six-hour hearing, Judge Papillion said these are issues of great public importance and concern that affect the lives and property of many citizens. He now intends to take the oral arguments, testimony and pleadings under advisement and come back with an opinion at a later date.
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