Staying above water: St. Charles residents grill FEMA on insurance rate increases

ST CHARLES, La. — FEMA was put on the spot Thursday night, answering to a gym full of anxious St. Charles Parish residents and Parish President Matthew Jewell.

Even after investing millions into flood mitigation measures, St. Charles Parish residents will soon be stuck with surging flood insurance bills.

The new, sky-high rates are brought upon by FEMA’s new flood rating system – Risk Rating 2.0.

“These flood insurance rates. That we’re seeing are unreasonable and are gonna kill our community,” Jewell said to the crowd of about 100 residents.

Lifelong residents like Robert Dupont, who lives in Bayou Gauche, are worried FEMA will price them out of their own homes.

“I’ve been there 30 years and we never had no flood,” said Dupont. “A little bit of rain back in whatever year that was, 94, but they fixed that. And the levees always held up through all the hurricanes we had.”

Dupont’s insurance premium will be between four and six thousand dollars at its maximum. It’s increasing 18 percent this year alone, as many are.

“There’s a lot of people who are leaving because of the prices. They’re pricing us out of our homes.  Sometimes I think That’s what they want. They want us to all leave this area,” said Dupont.

Under Risk Rating 2.0, the risk is set building by building, instead of by flood zone or elevation.

FEMA Insurance Liaison Gilbert Giron, Jr., was on hand to answer questions submitted by the crowd.

“Under risk rating 2.0, we’re going off of a unique risk characteristic for that building,” said Giron.

But the flood insurance costs will spike across the parish. Rates are capped at an 18 percent incremental increase every year until residents hit their maximum premium. However, anyone who allows their policy to lapse, or people who purchase new flood insurance policies, will have to buy in at the new, maximum rate.

“Right now, your flood insurance rates can go up 18 percent. And on April 1st, a lot of people in St. Charles are probably gonna see that 18 percent increase. But when does it stop?” said Jewell.

Some of St. Charles Parish has struggled with flooding through the years but stayed relatively dry during Hurricane Ida thanks to huge investments in flood protection.

But to this audience eager for answers, and Congressman Garrett Graves who will take these complaints to Washington, it can feel like FEMA is moving the goalposts.

And for residents like Dupont, it makes it harder to stay above water.

RELATED: Your flood insurance could be going up – quite a bit

RELATED: Boil water advisory issued for Jean Lafitte, Crown Point, Barataria: officials