National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Renewal
The Senate agreed (90-1) to proceed to reauthorize NFIP, and final action on the legislation is expected by the end of the week. Through this bill the NFIP would continue through 2013. The current debt of $17 billion, which was caused after FEMA’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, would be forgiven.
Congress has been working for months on renewal of the National Flood Insurance Program, which is set to expire this coming September. The House passed a similar bill last year, but also called for a federal program that includes wind coverage in addition to the flood coverage.
The wind coverage is supported by lawmakers in coastal areas, but is opposed by others including insurers. This coverage would increase challenges for FEMA and potentially increase taxpayer costs. Others who oppose the wind coverage portion include environmentalists, state floodplain managers, fiscal policy conservatives, and taxpayer and consumer activists.
Tornado Destruction in Virginia
Monday April 28th, three tornadoes caused major damage across Virginia, and left over 200 people injured.
The first tornado began at 4pm in Suffolk, and moved eastward to Norfolk. Many homes, businesses and cars sustained damage. Sentara Obici Hospital, which contains 138 beds, was hit by the tornado, but continued operating. This tornado left 200 injured in Suffolk.
Closer to Richmond, Colonial Heights saw a second tornado, which injured at least 18 people. Seventy miles south of Richmond, near Lawrenceville, a third tornado left several homes damaged.
A tornado warning was in effect for the remainder of Monday, and the hazardous weather caused Governor Tim Kaine to declare a state-wide state of emergency.
SOS to Assist Senior Citizen Policy Holders
A senior citizens’ assisted living apartment complex in West Bloomfield, MI caught fire on Wednesday, April 9th affecting two of the complex’s buildings. The first tower was completely burnt; the second with severe smoke damage. SOS arrived with 3 specialists on Tuesday, April 15th to meet the estimated 19 policyholders affected, to capture their inventories and values.
18th Earthquake in Illinois Since Friday
"The big concern is... is this just the beginning of the 'big one?'"
- Keith Potter of Santa Claus, Indiana
At 12:38am on Monday April 21st, another earthquake was recorded in Illinois. This 4.5 magnitude quake was the 18th recorded in the region since last Friday. Monday's earthquake was centered six miles below ground and 37 miles NNW of Evansville, Indiana.
Last Friday at 4:36am an earthquake centered six miles northwest of Mount Carmel, Illinois woke people from their sleep. This was a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, just below the regional record of 5.4 which occurred in 1968.
The tremors were felt from areas as far as southern Michigan and Des Moines, Iowa. At least 30 people in Clarksville, Tennessee, which is 227 miles south of the epicenter, reported feeling the earthquake.
Earthquakes are rare in this area. David Behm, and Illinois resident told the Associated Press: "It shook our house where it woke me up. Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."
Arkansas Flood Damages
For the past two weeks areas of Arkansas have been continually dealing with flooding. Unfortunately forecasts of rain have prevented any receding of flood waters, and in some cases have increased water levels.
FEMA administrator R. David Paulison believes it is too soon to evaluate damages; “Once the water dies down, we can start seeing what kind of infrastructure’s been damaged, whether it’s the roads or the sewage system, water system, police station, fire station. And we don’t know that yet.”
High waters have closed many roads across multiple counties. Still, recent rains have led to more predictions of flooding. In Black Rock, the Black River, with a flood stage of 14 feet, was expected to reach 25 feet on Tuesday. In Patterson, the Cache River, where the flood stage is 8 feet, was expected to reach 11 feet on Wednesday.
Department of Workforce Services has said that residents in the following counties may be eligible for disaster-unemployment assistance: Baxter, Benton, Independence, Jackson, Lawrence, Logan, Madison, Marion, Randolph, Stone, and Woodruff.
Central U.S. Faces Storms and Flooding
Heavy rain, which began on Monday March 17th, has cancelled flights, forced evacuations, and killed two people in the central United States. The National Weather Service warned of floods and flash floods from Texas to Ohio, and tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
In Missouri, where forecasters predicted 10 or more inches of rain by Wednesday, the Governor (Matt Blunt) activated the National Guard to help with hundreds of closed roads. In Piedmont, one third of the homes were evacuated after a creek overflow caused 2 to 3 foot floods in the town. Other towns such as Winona and Ellington also had many homes and businesses evacuated.
These floods were the cause of two deaths in Missouri. In Ellington, the body of an 81 year old man was found in the water. A Department of Transportation worker was killed as he was helping a flooded area and his dump truck was hit by a tractor-trailer rig; He was 21 years old.
American Airlines cancelled 700 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport because of the weather, as winds were near 70 miles per hour. The west tower at the airport was evacuated after a funnel cloud (which becomes a tornado if it touches the ground) was reported. Ken Capps, an airport spokesman, said, “This is one of the most vicious thunderstorms DFW has seen in quite some time, especially its ongoing intensity. Add in two snow storms in the past two weeks, and this has been one of the most unusual early spring weather patterns in years.”
Stolen Paintings Recovered in New England
In 1976 Mae Persky was robbed of three paintings worth about $45,000. These paintings were taken from her home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts after her home was aggressively invaded.
Now the paintings are worth $1 million, and are in custody of the FBI, after they turned up in the home of Patrick Conley, a prominent lawyer and developer from Rhode Island.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente has filed a civil action in federal court to have these paintings returned to their rightful owner. Conley and his wife are hoping to maintain ownership, as are the heirs of Mae Persky, and the insurer who paid Ms. Persky as a result of the theft.
Conley said the paintings came into his possession through his brother in exchange for a $22,000 loan. The three oil paintings involved were completed by Child Hassam, William Hamilton, and Gustave Courbet.
Conley discovered these paintings were real after bringing them to a Newport, R.I. art dealer. Although the dealer confirmed they were authentic, he also told Conley they were on the Art Loss Register as stolen art, and he would be contacting the FBI. The Providence Journal reported that Conley said, “I don’t think my brother realized they were real either. If he thought they were real, he’s not going to leave a million dollars in my possession.”
Coastal Hurricane Damages
A new study, directed towards civil engineers, concluded that the increased cost of hurricane damages is not the result of global warming. Chris Landsea, a NOAA researcher and one of the authors of this study, said the following: “There is nothing in the U.S. hurricane damage record that indicates global warming has caused a significant increase in destruction along our coasts.”
Using hurricane damage information from 1900 to 2005, they concluded that for the last 106 years hurricanes have generally caused the same amount of damage. An example they cited was a hurricane that hit Miami in 1926. They projected that had this same hurricane hit in 1995 it would have cost $72 billion, and by 2005 it could be up to $157 billion in damage. If it occurred today, it would surpass Hurricane Katrina’s losses (which totaled $81 billion). The reasoning behind this is inflation, as well as all of the building that has occurred along the coast.
After research, some risk analysts believe that damages may double every decade because of inflation, building, and construction costs. Landsea also said: “Unless action is taken to address the growing concentration of people and property in coastal hurricane areas, the damage will increase by a great deal as more people and infrastructure inhabit these coastal areas.”
Homes Damaged in Nevada Earthquake
At 6:16 on Thursday morning there was a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Nevada. There have been no reports of death or serious injuries; however hundreds of homes were destroyed.
The historic district of Wells, Nevada had damage to approximately 20 to 25 buildings, including the high school which is temporarily closed. The earthquake’s epicenter was about 6 to 12 miles east of Wells. Because of its high magnitude it could be felt from Northern Idaho and Utah all the way to Southern California. There were as many as 30 aftershocks reported.
A state of emergency was declared in Wells by county commissioners, resulting in a town closure to everyone except the 1,600 residents.
A state spokesman by the name of Tom Turk reported that almost all of the towns 700 residential structures had at least minor damage. The American Red Cross set up a temporary shelter for families who have been displaced. By Thursday night there were 40 families at the shelter.
According to Tony Lowry, a Utah State University assistant professor of geophysics, this earthquake was unusual. “In that part of Nevada, I don’t think we’ve seen any like that in the last 150 years or so… It’s not one of the places we would’ve looked or expected.”
Governor Jim Gibbons said “I think we were just blessed that Mother Nature struck when it did… rather than some time later on when the people would be out and about and the sidewalks might have had more people on them when these structures came down.”
Hurricane Katrina’s Flood Damages to Xavier University
The Supreme Court has decided to reject appeals from Hurricane Katrina victims who hoped to have their insurance companies pay for damages. This decision, made on Tuesday February 19th, rejected the appeals of Xavier University and 68 individuals and businesses who wanted to allow lawsuits against their insurance companies to commence.
Xavier and others were hoping that since these floods were the result of a man-made failure rather than solely a natural disaster, they would be covered. Collapsed levees in New Orleans were the man-made failure on which these insureds are placing blame. The policies of these insureds did not cover damage caused by flooding, as was determined in August by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They ruled that in their policies, flooding is not limited to natural events. This conclusion meant that Xavier and the 68 individuals were not at liberty to file lawsuits against their insurance companies.
In another related case, a Louisiana appeals court stated that in some policies, the language of water damage exclusions was ambiguous. On February 26th the Louisiana Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in this particular case.
To read previous news stories, click here.