Troubles mount for flood insurance

Troubles mount for flood insurance

The National Flood Insurance Program is in trouble.

Congress increased the program’s borrowing authority to $18 billion to pay an expected 200,000 claims from Hurricane Katrina.

But the Federal Emergency Management Agency program can’t repay the loan, David Maurstad, a top FEMA official, told Gannett News Service.

“The program doesn’t have the ability to pay it back or to service debt of that size,” Maurstad said.