Modeling national flood insurance policy holding at the county scale in Florida, 1999–2005

Abstract

We analyze household flood insurance purchases in Florida from 1999 to 2005, and the extent to which household insurance purchases correspond with flood mitigation activities by local governments involved in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS). Regression results indicate that household flood insurance purchases correlate strongly with local government mitigation activities, adjusting for hazard experience, hazard proximity, and community demography. Policy implications of this observed relationship are discussed, assuming four temporal order and floodplain development scenarios, with particular attention to the congruence of outcomes relative to policy objectives.