In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, many affected homeowners will have to pay for damages out-of-pocket.
An NBC News analysis showed that just around 2% of residences in the 100 counties hit hardest by the storm have flood insurance, which covers damage to a person’s home and belongings.
In Buncombe County, North Carolina, where Asheville — a city at the forefront of the storm’s devastation — is located, just 0.7% of homeowners have flood insurance. The lack of insurance indicates the storm was historic and unexpected for residents in the area.
“The horror stories I hear are the people whose houses were flooded out. [They] don’t have an NFIP policy, don’t have a Neptune policy, and their homeowners insurance will not cover the risk of flooding,” said Trevor Burgess, the CEO of Neptune Flood and St. Petersburg, Florida, resident. “These people are just left with a complete loss.”
The most common counties with flood insurance were along the coast, predominantly in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida.
Those who have been affected by the flood without homeowners insurance usually have a difficult time recovering economically.
It “creates this sort of spiral of economic hardship that is very difficult for all but the wealthy to recover from,” Burgess said. “It lays bare the haves and have-nots.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is assisting those who have lost their homes to floods in the aftermath of the storm, but the financial assistance still isn’t close to what people would have received with insurance. One problem is that many people believe their homeowners insurance would cover the damage from a flood, but it doesn’t.
“The No. 1 reason [people don’t buy flood insurance] is that people mistakenly think that they’re not in a high-risk flood zone, that they don’t need it,” Burgess said. “No. 2 is confusion, that they believe that their homeowners insurance covers the risk of flooding when it does not. And No. 3 is the cost.”
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Former President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) will receive a briefing in Evans, Georgia, on Helene’s damage Friday and will speak to the press.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have also vowed to assist those affected by the hurricane.