This week, Delaware’s lone congressman John Carney is taking a special tour of the First State to talk about climate change and sea level rise with local stakeholders.
The congressman sat down with a small group of regulators and heads of local municipalities at Sambo’s Tavern in Leipsic, to have a candid conversation about flood insurance.
Representatives of Leipsic, Little Creek, Broadkill Beach and Kitts Hummock attended to share their concerns. These included discrepancies between homeowner’s and flood insurance plans, the differences between federal and private insurance programs, and where home on coastal barrier reefs enter into the equation.
Jim Bailey, president of the Broadkill Beach Preservation Association, complained that the rates in Delaware’s coastal communities don’t reflect the incidence of floods in the area, compared to other parts of the country. He offered automotive insurance as an analogy for he thinks how flood insurance rates should work on a national scale.
“It’s a lot more expensive in New York City to have automotive insurance than it is in Sussex County," said Bailey. "If we have very low incidence of flooding, shouldn’t our rates reflect that? Why should Delaware pay the same rates as Missouri?”
Glenn Gauvry, mayor of Little Creek, currently lives in a historic home that would be impossible to elevate according to FEMA’s higher standards. And there are several homeowners in Little Creek who are dealing with similar problems. He thinks the rising premiums could spell a troubling future especially for the low to middle-income residents in his community.
"In communities like Bowers Beach, Leipsic or Little Creek, this isn’t our second home, this is our home," said Gauvry. "This is where we want to raise our children and this is where we work and play. If we make it more difficult to stay, if we make it more difficult to invest in, we will see these small coastal communities smaller than they already are. And eventually, they won’t be here. So you’ll ride down route 9 and you’ll see a sign that says, ‘Once there was a town of Leipsic here.’ Or ‘Once there was a town of Little Creek here.’"
Gauvry hopes that this scenario doesn’t happen and that state and federal officials will find a way to sustain Delaware’s small and vulnerable communities for future generations.
At the end of the discussion, Carney said he wants to continue the conversation on how flood insurance rates are determined for local communities.
“The most important one, to me, is this question of community ratings and how rates are established for existing homeowners," said Carney.
Congressman Carney’s climate change tour this week also includes visits Wilmington’s Southbridge community, the Inland Bays and the DuPont Nature Center. And he’ll take questions on Facebook about climate change’s impacts on Delaware on Friday, May 29 at 3pm.
