Lanai eligible for
federal flood insurance
The Federal Emergency Management Agency can make flood insurance available on Lanai, even though FEMA has yet to create a flood zone map for the island, U.S. Rep. Ed Case said.
Case said he looked into the situation after an insurance agent was unable to write flood insurance for a Lanai homeowner.
Every location in Maui County is included in the National Flood Insurance Program, Case said in a news release issued Wednesday in Washington.
There appeared to have been confusion over eligibility because there is no flood zone map for the Pineapple Island, the Democratic congressman said.
Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968 in response to the rising cost of taxpayer-funded disaster relief for flood victims and the increasing amount of damage caused by floods.
FEMA manages the program, overseeing its flood-plain management and mapping components.