FEMA’s Mitigation Assessment Team releases report with recommendations for improving the resilience of the built environment to natural disasters

To assess the impacts of Hurricane Irma on Florida’s built environment, FEMA’s Building Science Branch deployed a Mitigation Assessment Team (MAT) in December 2017. The MAT assessed the performance of municipal buildings, coastal residential properties, and public facilities to make recommendations for actions that Federal, State, and local governments; the design and construction industry; and building code and standards organizations can take to mitigate damage from future natural hazard events. The MAT focused on structures in Lee, Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties.  The assessment team was composed of 17 subject matter experts including FEMA staff; a representative from the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management Floodplain Management office; technical consultants; and design, construction, building code, and industry professionals.

Although Hurricane Irma was neither a flood nor wind design-level event, the storm caused widespread damage to residential and commercial buildings and infrastructure. The MAT’s observations and resulting conclusions and recommendations are presented in FEMA P-2023, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricane Irma in Florida and were used to develop three Recovery Advisories.

The Recovery Advisories and FEMA P-2023 are available on FEMA’s webpage: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (2017).

The Hurricane Irma in Florida MAT Report can also be directly downloaded by clicking here.

 To learn more about FEMA’s Mitigation Assessment Team Program, click here.

To learn more about FEMA’s Building Science Branch, visit our website.

Contact the Building Science helpline at FEMA-BuildingScienceHelp@fema.dhs.gov or 866-927-2104.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Office of External Affairs – Private Sector Engagement Team

FEMA-Private-Sector-Communications@fema.dhs.gov

Private Sector Advisory

FEMA Renews its Reinsurance Program by Transferring $1.32 Billion of Flood Risk to the Private Market

January 30, 2019

On January 1, 2019, FEMA completed its calendar year placement of reinsurance, continuing the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) support of resiliency and protection against future flood losses. In this reinsurance placement, FEMA transferred $1.32 billion of the NFIP’s financial risk to the private reinsurance market effective January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020.

Under the January 1, 2019, Reinsurance Agreement, reinsurers agreed to indemnify FEMA for flood losses from individual flood events. FEMA paid a total premium of $186 million for the coverage. The agreement is structured to cover:

• 14 percent of losses between $4 billion and $6 billion,
• 25.6 percent of losses between $6 billion and $8 billion, and
• 26.6 percent of losses between $8 billion and $10 billion.

To date, FEMA has transferred $1.82 billion of the NFIP’s flood risk for the 2019 hurricane season to the private sector. This yearly traditional reinsurance placement is in addition to the multi-year capital markets reinsurance placement for $500 million which occurred in August 2018.

If a named storm flood event is large enough to trigger both reinsurance agreements (i.e., a named storm flood event where NFIP claims exceed $5 billion), FEMA would receive payments under both reinsurance agreements.

FEMA executed the reinsurance agreement with 28 reinsurance markets representing some of the largest insurance and reinsurance companies around the globe. FEMA contracted with Guy Carpenter and Company, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, to provide broker services to assist in securing the reinsurance placement. FEMA also contracted with Aon for financial advisory services for the January 1, 2019, reinsurance placement.

Reinsurance is an important risk management tool used by insurance companies to protect themselves from large financial losses. Public entities also secure reinsurance. Examples of several U.S. states that use reinsurance programs, include the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation of Florida, the California Earthquake Authority, and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. Numerous countries also rely on reinsurance to manage their disaster risk programs, including the United Kingdom’s Flood Re program, New Zealand’s Natural Disaster Fund, and the Philippines’ National Reinsurance Corporation.

FEMA first purchased reinsurance for the NFIP in 2017 and recovered $1.042 billion from the private markets due to losses from Hurricane Harvey. In 2018, FEMA expanded its cornerstone reinsurance placement by 40 percent. Effective January 1, 2018, for a term of one year, FEMA secured $1.46 billion in traditional reinsurance coverage from 28 reinsurance companies to cover any qualifying NFIP flood losses in excess of $4 billion per event.

FEMA received authority to secure reinsurance through the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12), and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA).  FEMA’s 2019 reinsurance placement builds upon its 2017 cornerstone placement and 2018 placements, as further development toward a stronger financial framework.

Later today, more information will be posted on the NFIP Reinsurance Program webpage at: https://www.fema.gov/nfip-reinsurance-program.

If you have any questions, please contact FEMA’s Office of External Affairs – Private Sector Engagement Team at FEMA-Private-Sector-Communications@fema.dhs.gov.

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