Louisiana Parish Sues FEMA Over NFIP Rate-Setting Model

St. Charles Parish in Louisiana has sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over the Flood Risk Rating 2.0, a new system for setting flood insurance rates that went into effect in October 2021.

Parish officials issued a public records request to FEMA for information regarding the mode used to determine rates for its residents, but this was denied.

Risk Rating 2.0 is FEMA’s new pricing methodology for flood insurance premiums, which seeks to evaluate the risk of each individual property based on factors like frequency of flooding, flood types, proximity to flood sources, and the characteristics of a building. Local leaders are concerned that the system is difficult to understand and that it does not properly account for flood control measures such as levees.

Recent data released from FEMA shows that Louisiana will see a rate increase of 134%, with St. Charles Parish seeing an increase of 239%, with some areas as high as 752%.

Louisianans are more likely to hold flood insurance policies than any other state, and as a result, the state will be especially hard hit by the changes.