KENNER, La. — Storm debris piles are stacked high in the University City Subdivision in Kenner.
A nearby drainage canal overflowed during Hurricane Francine, pushing water into people’s homes and vehicles.
In the wake of the storm, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana responded to questions about the Federal Flood Insurance Program.
The program was created to help homeowners offset their losses in times like this.
“FEMA works with us on a lot of things, so I’m not going to disparage them completely,” Scalise said. “The way they run the NFIP program has been a complete disaster that has wrecked communities in places like south Louisiana and we’re far from the only community.”
Scalise and others argue FEMA’s new Risk Rating 2.0 does not take into consideration flood reduction measures taken after past disasters.
“If you are now in a more resilient community, you’re behind billions of dollars of new flood protection they are by law supposed to take that into consideration and lower the premium, not raise it three, four times,” Scalise said.
We first met Deborah Ohlsen the day after Francine hit.
More than a foot of water gushed into her home on Tulane Drive.
Monday, she expressed frustration at the high cost of flood insurance.
“I can even barely afford what I have now,” Ohlsen said. “It’s what you call insurance poor. It’s like you paying more for insurance than your house payment.”
Kenner neighbors fear because of this most recent storm, their federal flood insurance premiums could go up even higher, forcing some of them to make some tough decisions.
“Like my son said, 'Mom, we can’t keep going through this,'” Ohlsen said. “He says sooner or later you’re going to have to put up a for sale sign. He says you’re getting to the age where you shouldn’t have to go through all this.”
Gov. Jeff Landry, R-Louisiana, said he would let FEMA know how many additional homes would have flooded during Francine, if not for state and local investments in flood control structures such as the Morganza to the Gulf levee in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes.
Louisiana and nine other states have sued FEMA over risk rating 2.0.
Some policyholders have seen a 10-fold rate increase in the New Orleans area.
