Flood Insurance Rates Set to Increase April 1

Flood insurance rates are set to increase for all policyholders on Friday as the National Flood Insurance Program continues to dig itself out of $24 billion in debt incurred in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and other recent emergencies.

That means policyholders and their insurance agents will once again be forced to wade through a bewildering barrage of bureaucratic lingo like "Lapsed and reinstated pre-Flood Insurance Rate Map (Pre-FIRM) policies," "Pre-FIRM primary residences," "preferred risk," "standard rated," "Biggert-Waters" and "Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014."

And those phrases are from just two paragraphs of a news release Thursday from state Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty's office alerting Florida residents of the coming rate increases.

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