Senators Concerned About Flood Insurance Rates

Twenty-four U.S. senators, including both from Mississippi and both from Louisiana, have signed a letter saying they want “immediate relief” for people facing steep rate increases for coverage in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The letter was sent Friday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The rate hikes were passed in 2012 to keep the NFIP solvent after an onslaught of claims from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The law removes federal subsidies from properties in flood zones.

The senators’ letter says the Federal Emergency Management Agency only recently started an affordability study that’s required as part of a 2012 law that reauthorized the NFIP.

Mississippi’s U.S. senators are Republicans Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker. Louisiana’s are Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter.