Hurricane Florence: Fewer homes in storm’s path have flood insurance

As Hurricane Florence pounds North Carolina, dumping massive amounts of rain and causing more than 400,000 homes and businesses to lose power, many area homeowners may be regretting their choice to opt out of flood insurance in recent years.

According to the latest figures by the National Flood Insurance Program, fewer homeowners in North and South Carolina own flood insurance today than five years ago. In North Carolina, flood insurance policies have declined 3.6 percent since 2013 to 134,306 policies, while ownership in South Carolina only saw a 1.2 percent dip, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The declining number of flood insurance in those areas could signal problems for many residents and businesses when they look to rebuild.

According to the WSJ, those declines in flood insurance also come despite significant coastal development in both regions over the last five years.

However, last year’s string of hurricanes — including Harvey, Irma and Maria — did bump up the number of flood policies nationally. According to the report, flood insurance has grown 3 percent since last summer to 5.1 million across the 50 states. But the number is still below the nearly 5.5 million policies held nationwide in September 2012.