Overview of HUD's Flood Insurance Requirements, National Flood Insurance Program

Floods are the most common and costly natural disaster in the United States, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Between 1980 and 2013, the United States suffered more than $260 billion in flood-related damages. These significant losses translate to a large volume of flood insurance claims. In 2005, for example, Hurricane Katrina resulted in claim payments of $16.3 billion from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), ranking as the most expensive flood in the U.S. since the NFIP’s inception in 1968.