St. Charles Parish filed suit against FEMA on Tuesday over its controversial new system for setting flood insurance rates, alleging the federal agency has failed to respond to public records requests related to how premiums are being calculated.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court for the eastern district of Louisiana. The parish said in a statement that FEMA has not provided data related to the parish’s November 2022 request under the Freedom of Information Act for “information used in the model to determine rates affecting its residents.”
The new system, known as Risk Rating 2.0, is projected to lead to steep rate hikes across south Louisiana, phased in over years. St. Charles in particular is in line for average increases of 239% for single-family homes, with one ZIP code in the Des Allemands/Bayou Gauche area projected to see 752% hikes.
Louisiana is projected to see 134% increases for single-family homes on average. The increases are being phased in with 18% annual hikes.
FEMA defends the new system as fairer for all because it does away with the old method that relied on its imperfect flood maps. Risk Rating 2.0 seeks to evaluate the risk of each individual home through a range of factors, including distance from water, rebuilding cost, construction type and ground elevation.
Rates are calculated through a complex algorithm, and some of the data is proprietary and not available to the public. A major issue local leaders say they have with the system is the difficulty in understanding how levees and other flood control measures being put in place can affect rates. They question whether those measures are being properly accounted for.
“We owe it to our residents to seek out this information, make sure it’s correct and if it’s not correct, get it corrected, to make sure that our risks are being accurately reflected,” St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said. “I don’t believe they are.”
FEMA had not immediately responded to a request for comment.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back to nola.com for further updates.
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