An Associated Press analysis published on September 29 found a large gap in U.S. flood protection: federal policies cover just 2.4% of properties, while 8.4% face severe or extreme flood risk. The investigation, which compared government insurance records with risk data, raises questions about how households will recover as climate change intensifies heavy rain and other flood hazards.
Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency administers it. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flooding. Federal flood coverage is available in participating communities, and owners with federally backed mortgages must buy it when their properties fall inside mapped high-risk zones. Those maps therefore influence both the perceived danger and who is required to carry a policy.
Eastern Kentucky illustrates the gap. AP found that in the area hit by deadly flooding in 2022, only 2.1% of properties carried flood insurance, although about 47% faced severe or extreme risk. Just 18% of buildings affected by that flood lay within a FEMA high-risk zone, according to the investigation. AP said the maps can miss the danger from intense rainfall away from major rivers and coastlines; parts of southern Louisiana also have large coverage gaps.
Affordability is another obstacle. AP estimated that the number of federal policies has fallen by roughly 500,000 in five years, while a typical policy now costs about $1,100 a year, around 90% more than five years ago. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 pricing method ties premiums more closely to each property's flood risk. That can better signal danger, but higher bills can also lead households to forgo coverage.
FEMA told AP that stronger building codes, better zoning and more private insurance options are needed. The agency said it cannot resolve affordability without Congress. The Government Accountability Office likewise describes a persistent tension between affordable premiums and the program's finances; it reported that FEMA had borrowed about $38.5 billion from the Treasury since 2005 to support the flood insurance program.
GAO has urged Congress to consider income-based assistance for policyholders who cannot afford premiums, alongside measures that reduce damage at repeatedly flooded properties. Its March 2026 assessment said lawmakers had not enacted that assistance as of February. FEMA is developing a more detailed flood-risk mapping system, AP reported, but no timetable is clear. For exposed households, the findings leave a practical question: whether coverage will become both accurate enough and affordable enough before the next flood.
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