The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q: Do any of the thousands of people displaced by the recent flooding in Louisiana have flood insurance?
—Hoke Kimball, Atlanta
A: About one in seven households in the Baton Rouge, La., area had flood insurance.
Many area residents didn’t carry flood insurance because they lived in areas thought to be too low risk for floods, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported, but there were “52,896 flood insurance policies in effect.”
Only 14 percent of homeowners in East Baton Rouge Parish had flood insurance because about one-quarter of the homes in the area were considered to be in high-risk areas.
Twenty-two percent of the homeowners in Livingston Parish — where about 60 percent of houses are in high-risk areas — had flood insurance, the paper reported.
At least 13 people died in the floods caused by recent torrential rain. The flooding affected 31 percent of the area’s homes, according to the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, as reported by The Advocate.