Connecticut Resiliency Plan Includes Flood Insurance, History Notification Mandate

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is proposing legislation aimed at improving the state’s resilience in the face of severe weather events, including requiring expanded notification to homeowners and renters of the availability of flood insurance and the flood history of a property.

As part of a comprehensive resiliency bill, Lamont wants to require banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies, and insurance brokers and agents to notify homeowners about the availability of flood insurance at the time of the mortgage signing and formally acknowledge if the customer has declined to purchase a flood policy.

Under current law, only homeowners who own a home within a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-designated flood zone are required to obtain flood insurance. According to Lamont, “many homeowners who have experienced a flood are surprised to learn that homeowners’ insurance does not cover flood damage.” Lamont is proposing to amend this law to establish an additional disclosure related to the history of flooding on a property or its location in a flood zone. Additionally, his proposal would extend this flood history and flood zone notification to renters.

In making his case for his flood notification and other proposals, Lamont noted that the period from July of 2023 to June of 2024 was the wettest year in recorded history for Connecticut, while 2024 was the hottest year and had the hottest summer on record for Hartford.

Recent Events

He cited the heavy rainfall in August that delivered severe flash flooding in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties, resulting in three deaths and nearly $300 million in damage. He also recalled repeated heavy rainstorms in January of 2024 that resulted in a near-failure of a dam in Bozrah and severe flooding of the Yantic River in Norwich; severe flooding in September of 2023 that collapsed two bridges and stranded families; and an extended drought in the fall of 2024 that contributed to several brush fires, including a large fire on Lamentation Mountain in Berlin and Meriden and took the life of a firefighter.

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“These severe weather events aren’t just happening on TV in faraway locations, they’re happening in our backyards. It is urgent that we take the steps necessary to make sound investments that harden our infrastructure, defend our natural resources, and enact the protections we need to save human lives, property, and livelihood. This is a critical issue that ought to be near the top of every lawmaker’s priorities, and for the sake of the people of Connecticut I want to work with the legislature this session on enacting a comprehensive resiliency bill,” Lamont said.

Tri-State Flood Risk

Recent research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly one million houses and multifamily buildings in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—one in 10 properties in the tri-state area—are at high risk of flooding. These properties rank among the top 25% of riskiest properties nationally, the same flood risk category as some homes in coastal Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, according to the report, “Flood Risk and the Tristate Housing Market.”

1 in 10 Tri-State Properties at High Flood Risk: New York Fed

The report also found that nearly 40% of the tri-state properties at risk of flooding, or more than 400,000 properties, are in low- to moderate-income census tracts. These properties, including single-family homes and multifamily buildings, such as rental apartments, condominiums, and co-ops, are home to more than 1.5 million people.

Lamont’s Bill

The governor’s full resiliency proposal, which he will file on February 5 when he delivers his budget address to the General Assembly, also calls for:

• Expand state reviews of coastal development plans to include additional activities in flood risk areas near coastal functions that help buffer flooding (wetlands, beaches, and dunes).
• Remove the exemption for the coastal site plan review for single-family homes.
• Prohibit state investments in new or substantial renovation of residential development in the highest-risk flood areas.
• Have climate risks incorporated in all state and municipal plans for land use, hazard mitigation, transportation, and evacuation and increase sharing of mapping to improve local to state coordination.
• Clarify that municipalities that currently use municipal reserve and road funds to support local capital improvements may also use these funds to incorporate resiliency considerations.
• Create a program that helps municipalities incentivize development toward less-sensitive areas.
• Require municipalities to geolocate culverts and bridges.

Topics
Flood
Connecticut