The prospect of a hurricane tearing up the East Coast through Long Island and Connecticut, hitting Cape Cod and heading up to Maine “is an event that keeps insurance people awake at night,” according to Robert DeSaulniers, a flood insurance specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s northeast region. “Experienced insurance property underwriters, without looking at hurricane maps, will tell you we are so overdue for a major hurricane,” he said. Federal disaster funds could be a long time coming and meager in size, DeSaulniers said, so purchasing National Flood Insurance Program policies through the federal government is a property owner’s best bet.