Another round in the continuing effort to get everyone to protect themselves from personal catastrophe because public leadership hasn’t protected them from the public one.
Flood insurance a tough sell
Despite levee worries, few have policies in Natomas and West Sacramento.
By Deb Kollars - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 17, 2006
With the rainy season looming, and memories of local levee emergencies and Hurricane Katrina still fresh, flood awareness has never been higher in the Sacramento region.
Yet getting people to buy flood insurance remains a tough sell for local flood control officials.
In Natomas, a low-lying community with nearly 80,000 people, the number of homeowners with flood insurance policies is rising. Still, three-quarters of property owners in this vulnerable region do not carry flood insurance, according to the most recent statistics from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Those records also show that residents of West Sacramento, a growing city of 45,000 people surrounded by levees, had just 1,859 flood insurance policies in force as of Oct. 31.
Even in areas where voluntary flood insurance has been widely embraced, such as downtown Sacramento and neighboring areas including east Sacramento and Land Park, insurance numbers slipped slightly in recent months.
