By Paul Bledsoe
Last week, a meeting of Florida flooding policy managers was washed out in South Florida by a deluge of 26 inches of rain in just eight hours, unprecedented rainfall made far larger due to the climate change crisis that Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump consistently belittle. And it’s not even hurricane season yet. In fact, climate change causes extreme flooding year around since warmer air holds more water vapor, making storms produce additional “heavy precipitation events,” according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment.
Sunshine State homeowners now face massive increases in home insurance costs due to climate change impacts, if they can get insurance at all. Since DeSantis became governor four years ago, policy home insurance rates have gone up 50% for Floridians, and increases aren’t stopping. And experts expect reinsurance costs to go up another 50% more this summer.
“Most homeowners’ insurance policies do not include flood insurance,” says state Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier. Flood insurance can easily add another $1,500 to the bill. All of these costs help make inflation higher in Florida than the national average. By 2100, if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced, Florida could face sea levels rise by up to 6 feet, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of being underwater. Welcome to the world of increasingly brutal climate disasters that will make the lives of average Americans, especially the elderly, far more insecure and expensive, if emissions are allowed to continue rising, as they will if Trump or DeSantis becomes president after the next election.
