According to data from the National Flood Insurance Program, more than 5,000 homes in southeastern Virginia have received multiple state settlements for flood damage over the life of the National Flood Insurance Program new analysis from the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the program, recently made data on so-called “repetitive loss properties” available for the first time, said Anna Weber, senior policy analyst at NRDC.

“In the past, it has been very difficult to get access to specific data on repeatedly flooded properties,” she said. “FEMA is keeping a very strict eye on this data.”

Recurrent losses are properties that have suffered significant damage – and assistance – twice or more within a 10-year period.

They represent a small percentage of total policies under the federal flood insurance program, but make up a large portion of the money that FEMA pays out, Weber said.

According to NRDC’s analysis, a majority, about 74%, of Virginia’s repeat loss properties are located in Hampton Roads.

Hampton, Norfolk and Poquoson have the most, but every town in the region has homes that have repeatedly flooded.

Overall, there are more homes with multiple flood payouts in southeastern Virginia than in New York City.

About 12% of these are considered “serious repeat losses.” That means they filed four or more separate claims and received at least $5,000 each time.

A home in Virginia Beach has been flooded 52 times, including four floods in 2020 and two more the following year, according to The Washington Post reported.

The numbers only reveal properties that have state flood insurance and have filed claims — a drastic undercount of the actual amount flooded, Weber said.

“In a way, being included on this list means you’re lucky because to be classified as a repeat loss property you have to have flood insurance,” she said. “Many people, even people who live in particularly flood-prone communities, don’t have flood insurance because they don’t know they need it or they simply can’t afford it.”

The federal government started the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968 after the private insurance sector “essentially retreated from flood risk and decided it couldn’t cover it,” Weber said.

“So the federal government intervened.”

In areas where FEMA assesses a particularly high risk of flooding, it says: Areas particularly at risk of floodingPeople with government-backed mortgages must purchase flood insurance.

Everywhere else, the guidelines are largely voluntary. Weber said the program tends to result in an increase in people purchasing insurance after storms. Then they decrease “when the memory of a major event somehow fades away in people’s memories.”

About 71,000 homes in Hampton Roads had flood insurance last year.

Climate change is now rapidly shifting the boundaries of risk. Hurricane Helene right now devastated the mountains of western North Carolina for example, far from the coast, where in some places more than two feet of rain fell in three days.

FEMA flood plains are struggling to keep up with the increasing spread of this risk. Some areas’ flood maps haven’t been updated in decades, although the agency calculates individual risk to homes has been completely overhauled in recent years.

“At the end of the day, the best flood insurance in the world won’t prevent your home from flooding,” Weber said. “We have to attack both sides of the issue. It’s really important that people understand the need and benefits of flood insurance and have the ability to access and pay for it. On the other hand, however, it is crucial to reduce the risk so that people do not have to deal with the effects of flooding at all.”

FEMA offers some assistance to homeowners in performing work that will protect the home from future flood damage, such as: B. when lifting the house or when lifting electrical devices.

However, Weber said only a small percentage of properties with repeat losses have ever received mitigation assistance – in Virginia, just 8% of them.

Ultimately, American taxpayers are responsible for rebuilding these homes, Weber said.

“This is something you can agree on even if you don’t live in a flood-prone area, because at the end of the day it’s all of our lives.”

The NRDC advocates for strengthening federal flood disclosure laws to better inform potential buyers about their risk when purchasing or renting a home.

For example, in Virginia, sellers are not required to disclose a home’s flood risk or flood history unless it falls into the repeat damage category. (The general assembly postponed a A bill was introduced earlier this year that would improve flood risk disclosure in real estate.)