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St. Charles Parish sues FEMA over Risk Rating 2.0, 'astronomical' flood insurance hikes

President Matthew Jewell announced the lawsuit, saying that the parish had exhausted all other remedies to get public records from FEMA.

ST. CHARLES PARISH, La. — St. Charles Parish says it has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, claiming the agency denied the parish's public records request for information on Risk Rating 2.0.

On Tuesday, St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell announced the lawsuit, saying that the parish had exhausted all other remedies to get public records from FEMA.

Jewell said residents deserve transparency on data being used to determine significant flood insurance rate increases seen in the parish.

"The residents of St. Charles Parish are seeing huge spikes in flood insurance rates, and we deserve to know why," Jewell said. "We deserve transparency on the data being used to determine these astronomical rate increases."

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the parish said it filed a Freedom of Information Act request from FEMA in November 2022 that sought information used in the agency's model to assess flood protection measures. The parish's goal was to ensure that residents were getting the lowest rate possible. FEMA has not provided any data or documents it used to formulate Risk Rating 2.0, the parish says.

“Through millions of dollars of investment in the construction of new levees, pumps and storage area, St.Charles Parish is better protected than ever, yet residents are going to be priced out of living in the community they live and work in,” Jewell said. "FEMA should be working with us to ensure the model accurately reflects our community’s real risk so that we can direct resources to mitigate, protect and achieve affordable flood insurance rates."

The announcement said that recent data released from FEMA shows that Louisiana will see a rate increase of 134%, with St. Charles Parish seeing an increase of 239%, with some areas as high as 752%.

Risk Rating 2.0 is FEMA's new pricing methodology for flood insurance premiums that went into effect in October 2021. The program assesses the risk of each individual property based on factors like frequency of flooding, flood types, proximity to flood sources and the characteristics of a building.

    

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