The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that the total cost to the National Flood Insurance Program following Hurricane Harvey could total as much as $11 billion, according to reports today, exceeding the program’s current borrowing authority and likely requiring Congress to approve an increase.
FEMA Director Roy Wright noted that the NFIP currently has $5.8 billion remaining under its $30 billion borrowing authority, in addition to about $1.5 billion in on-hand cash that can be used to pay claims. Thus far, FEMA has had 84,000 claims from Harvey damage, totaling $177 million in initial payments, a number that Wright said he expects to “climb very, very rapidly.”
