The Mushroom Factor

I live high on a hill. I don’t expect I’ll ever be flooded. Yet, lately, like many people, I have an awareness of flood insurance that I didn’t have before. Funny how nature captures our attention.According to the media, in Wisconsin alone, there are about 50 communities not participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This makes them ineligible not only for flood insurance but also for state and federal aid. Why would so many communities, like that of Lake Delton, go without? For what reason would local governments leave their constituents, well, not exactly high and dry?The Capital Times editor emeritus Dave Zweifel has an interesting opinion in today’s paper. It sheds light on what otherwise is a murky matter. According to Zweifel:

“There are many reasons, but they usually boil down to that never-ending social and political battle we know as development. Once the municipality agrees with FEMA’s definition of a flood plain, new building within that plain is subject to numerous restrictions. Not only do the buildings have to be constructed to withstand floods, but their location in relation to bodies of water faces restrictions and, in some instances, building can’t happen at all.

Communities and, particularly, the developers don’t like that. Not only do the flood plain rules limit structures like resorts and condos on valued lakefront and riverfront property, but they can put a crimp into a municipality’s grand design to grow and add more tax base.”

How sad.

Once again, it’s all about money and personal desires. Developers want their fortune, without respect to sensible building standards or the land on which they build. And owners want their dream home, whether it’s safe from overflowing waters or not.

Once again I ask: Who should pay for this?

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• Who Pays for Flooding?

The Midwest typically is not a great concern in national news, however, in recent weeks our weather has made daily headlines. With repeated rains totaling anywhere from 7-12 inches at a crack, many Midwestern states are dealing with what’s now known as the Flood of 2008.

Here in Wisconsin, Lake Delton has become our poster child of flooding. On June 9, torrential rains caused the 245-acre, man-made lake to tear away the county highway that served as its dike and literally drain itself within hours into the already flooded Wisconsin River. Most dramatic is the coverage of lakefront homes that were ripped from the shoreline and washed away into the rushing waters.

You sure have to feel for these homeowners.

But wait. When I watched the TV news coverage, my feelings became mixed. I saw Lake Delton homeowners bemoan the loss of their…yep, you got it…vacation homes. Don’t get me wrong. I realize multiple-homeowners work as hard for their real estate as the rest of us. But when thousands of Midwesterners elsewhere are struggling to save the only home they own from water, sewage and who-knows-what, it’s hard to feel pain for those crying for their vacation homes.

My feelings were furthered mixed when I read of Lake Delton’s insurance woes. It seems the community was not enrolled in the federal flood insurance program. Nor were homeowners covered in their private homeowner policies. Here’s where I start to ask questions: At what point must each of us, as individual citizens, assume responsibility for our own rights and privileges? And to what extent are we, as a society, responsible for the rights and privileges of individuals?

One of the homes was valued at $1 million. As the Tomah Journal put it, “Does the government owe them another $1 million lakefront home? A less expensive home with no lake frontage? Anything?”

Another couple spent their life’s savings to build a dream home along side the lake, all the while knowing they were uninsured. Is this wise? Are taxpayers responsible for their love of water, even to the point of foregoing common sense?

A phone call to my insurance agency answered some of these questions. My agent explained that most private insurance companies do not offer coverage against flooding. Rather, homeowners purchase insurance from the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which they obtain through their private insurer.

But there’s a catch.

Homeowners cannot receive coverage if their community is not enrolled in the NFIP program. Reasons for not enrolling are usually because the area is determined to be a low risk for flooding. In the case of Lake Delton, a lakeside village located between Dell Creek and the large Wisconsin River, its officials disputed a federal updated floodplain map and forfeited their eligibility in the program.

This happened seven years ago.

So, let’s think about it. Here’s a community, surrounded by water, whose elected officials chose not to comply with its only source of flood insurance. For seven years. Would it not be the responsibility of homeowners to question these decisions? To oust those oafs from office and elect officials who act more in their behalf? To get involved?

These are difficult questions, to be sure. What do you think?

As for me, I’ll stay living on my hill and enjoy the water from afar.

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• More on Flood Insurance