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  • Floods. They are clearly catastrophic, traumatic events,

  • although they have also been responsible

  • for one of the most memorable clips

  • in the history of broadcast news.

  • Good morning.

  • Well, obviously we're getting a nice break from the rain,

  • but not the flooding.

  • -This is essentially now... - (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • ...a part of the Passaic River in this neighborhood.

  • That's it.

  • Fuck James Cameron and fuck Titanic,

  • because that is now officially

  • the greatest boat disaster ever captured on film.

  • It's over.

  • Now, floods were everywhere this summer.

  • Think of them as the "Despacito" of natural disasters.

  • Persistent, ubiquitous,

  • and absolutely no fault of the Puerto Rican government.

  • And floods are always threatening.

  • Ninety percent of all natural disasters in the U.S.

  • involve a flood.

  • Which is, I assume, the reason that FEMA's website

  • once referred to flooding as

  • "America's number-one natural hazard,

  • exclamation mark."

  • Which is a pretty weird tone to take

  • when describing something horrible.

  • It's like saying, "Boils: America's number-one

  • staph infection!"

  • Or "Parks: America's number-one place to die unnoticed!"

  • And floods are only going to get worse

  • due to climate change.

  • And I know that there are people who will dispute that,

  • and we just don't have time tonight

  • to litigate whether extreme-weather events

  • are exacerbated by climate change.

  • So for now, let's just say...

  • (DRAMATIC MALE VOICE OVER)

  • -Yeah. -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • They just definitely are. I mean...

  • -Sure, sure... -(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

  • ...it is-- It is a complicated issue,

  • and we may not have definitive proof

  • until the late 1980s.

  • But-- But, while floods are often referred to

  • as "natural disasters,"

  • the truth is the damage they do is often to some extent

  • within our control.

  • Because we have made certain decisions

  • that put and keep people and property

  • in the path of flooding.

  • And that is what this story is about.

  • And before we go any further,

  • let's acknowledge that people live near water

  • for all sorts of reasons.

  • For some, it's where their families have lived

  • for generations, or a necessity for the work that they do.

  • And for others, it's a luxury.

  • And living next to the water is undoubtedly attractive,

  • despite the risks, like flooding,

  • or stepping on pointy seashells,

  • or mistakenly giving a Tostito to a seagull

  • without realizing that that means

  • you will now spend the rest of your life haunted

  • by a Tostito-addicted seagull.

  • The point is, whatever the reason

  • -to live by the water... -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • -(SEAGULL SQUAWKING) -many do-- Oh, for fuck's sake!

  • You've got to be kidding! I don't have any Tostitos!

  • I've been telling you that for six years!

  • Look, no Tostitos!

  • No Tostitos! Get out of here.

  • Get out of here, you flying beach rat.

  • -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) -Sorry.

  • The point is,

  • the dangers of waterfront living are real.

  • But many people, like this man,

  • who lives on the water in Tampa Bay,

  • feel the benefits outweigh the risks.

  • REPORTER: Mark knows that life here is tenuous.

  • But he doesn't dwell on it.

  • Every morning when I walk out to get the paper,

  • I see dolphins frolicking in the bayou,

  • and Roseate spoonbills

  • walking around the edge of the bayou, so...

  • it tends to make you forget about all those sorts of things.

  • Sure, I can imagine that seeing a Roseate spoonbill

  • would take your mind off things,

  • because you're spending your whole day

  • trying to figure out how a flamingo

  • could have gotten its stupid bird face

  • stuck into a panini press.

  • -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -I'm just saying,

  • even people who like birds don't like this bird.

  • The Audubon society,

  • an organization whose entire purpose

  • is to champion birds, says they are, quote,

  • "Gorgeous at a distance and bizarre up close."

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • Which is like the American Kennel Club saying,

  • "We celebrate all dogs and honor them as man's best friend,

  • but the Dandy Dinmont has a trash personality,

  • and looks like a scotty fucked Phil Spector.

  • And look, look...

  • If you are literally overlooking a bayou like that guy

  • you are probably aware that flooding is a risk.

  • But not every flood-prone area is directly along the coast,

  • and sometimes aggressive development

  • can exacerbate the risk of flooding,

  • even considerably inland.

  • Just look at Houston,

  • which was recently rocked by Harvey.

  • REPORTER 2: The metro area's development has exploded.

  • One study found the Houston area

  • has added 25 percent more pavement over 15 years,

  • replacing soil-rich wetlands that could absorb water

  • with concrete-covered suburbia.

  • Exactly, and that made Harvey's damage significantly worse.

  • Concrete isn't good at absorbing water.

  • That is why people don't dry off at the beach

  • by rolling around in the parking lot.

  • But it's not just global warming or unchecked growth

  • that have put more people in risky, flood-prone areas.

  • It's also the fact that

  • it's frequently only possible for people to take that risk

  • because they have flood insurance.

  • Just look at Buying the Beach.

  • It's a House Hunters type show

  • for people who want to live near the water. And one episode

  • featured two brothers named Mitch and Daniel

  • arguing over a particular beach house

  • which led to this exchange...

  • What do you think about the island house, Mitch?

  • MITCH: Well, I think there was a lot of good and a lot of bad on it.

  • Right off those steps into the beach, can't be beat.

  • DANIEL: We are really close to the water.

  • That's just another thing that's got me concerned.

  • Well, that's what insurance is for.

  • "That's what insurance is for."

  • That may be the most reckless statement

  • ever said on a boat.

  • And I'm very much including,

  • "I can definitely make this shot work."

  • And, "Hey! Let's feed these gulls some Tostitos."

  • -(SEAGULL SQUAWKING) -I don't have any!

  • All I did was said the word. Get out of here!

  • No Tostitos! No Tostitos!

  • But Mitch-- No Tostitos!

  • But-- But Mitch... Mitch isn't wrong.

  • That if they bought that house, they could get flood insurance

  • and surprisingly cheaply.

  • And it's worth taking some time to understand why

  • that is the case, because

  • unlike other forms of homeowner's insurance,

  • flood protection is actually underwritten by the government,

  • through the NFIP,

  • or National Flood Insurance Program.

  • It started nearly 50 years ago, after historic floods

  • wiped out many people's homes in the 1960s,

  • and the government back then realized

  • that there was a real problem.

  • Insurance companies wouldn't cover floods

  • at an affordable cost, because it was too risky,

  • so because of that, the government was spending

  • way too much on disaster relief,

  • so they stepped in, and created the NFIP,

  • which offered significantly discounted insurance

  • to encourage people to buy it, and that sounds great,

  • but crucially, the aim at the time was not

  • that people would be staying in at-risk homes permanently,

  • as the program's current administrator explains.

  • They presumed that if we told

  • people they were at risk, they would move.

  • They presumed that over the life of the program,

  • those discounts wouldn't need to be continued,

  • and they presumed they wouldn't need to be continued because

  • once people knew they had the risk,

  • they would move out.

  • That has not proven true.

  • No, but of course it hasn't, because that's not how

  • -people work. -(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)

  • We will gladly accept huge risks to our personal safety

  • for the sake of a discount, that was the entire premise

  • behind the McDonald's dollar menu.

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • A-- and that is just one of the many flaws

  • with how this well-intentioned program was designed,

  • because everything about it from who participates

  • to where the money goes,

  • to the incentives it creates, needs fixing.

  • And let's start with the fact that eligibility for the program

  • is determined through flood plain maps.

  • You are required to buy flood insurance

  • if you have a federally-backed mortgage

  • and FEMA's maps show that you live in a risky area.

  • Unfortunately, the mandate has been poorly enforced,

  • meaning that lots of people don't buy insurance who should.

  • And the maps themselves can be both out of date

  • and wildly inaccurate.

  • In fact, just days before Harvey struck,

  • a study of Houston area flood maps

  • was published and the results were alarming.

  • REPORTER 3: Over the course of a decade,

  • researchers at Rice University and Texas A&M Galveston

  • studied one section of southeast Harris County.

  • They found FEMA's flood plain maps

  • missed about 75 percent of the damages from the storms--

  • Seventy-five percent. At that point, you might as well

  • predict floods by having blindfolded six-year-olds

  • pin little cardboard puddles onto city maps

  • at birthday parties.

  • But even if all the maps were perfect,

  • there would be another flaw with the NFIP,

  • which is how it's administered.

  • You see, typically the government

  • doesn't directly insure you.

  • Instead, it pays private insurance companies

  • a fee for every policy they sell.

  • But not just that.

  • The federal government is then responsible

  • for covering any losses,

  • which is a pretty fucking sweet deal

  • for those companies.

  • They take none of the risk, and yet they get

  • all the rewards, but it gets even worse,

  • because they also get paid for each claim they handle.

  • And when Frontline crunched some of the numbers,

  • and presented them to a former head of the program,

  • they found something shocking.

  • REPORTER 4: There was one number that really jumped out.

  • With all the claims in the wake of Sandy,

  • the profits were more than $400 million.

  • Because they're handling a lot of claims that year

  • and they get-- make a lot of money when they handle claims.

  • When a big storm hits then, they make more money.

  • Yeah, at the very time you need them to make less money

  • if anything, because-- because of-- the burden

  • is gonna be borne by the taxpayers,

  • they make a killing.

  • That's true.

  • For insurance companies, the bigger the disaster,

  • the more they stand to profit.

  • And that is a business model not usually seen

  • outside of Nicholas Cage's career.

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • (STAMMERS) And while the insurance industry

  • may dispute exactly how much profit they make,

  • the fact remains that the government and the taxpayer

  • are definitely the ones eating the losses,

  • which is one of the reasons why

  • even before these latest hurricanes,

  • the program was $25 billion in debt,

  • and there are not enough Roseate spoonbills in the world

  • to take your mind off that, and just to be clear,

  • there are exactly enough Roseate spoonbills in the world.

  • I-- I'm just saying,

  • do we all really need more of this?

  • (BIRDS WHINE)

  • "Hey kids, come see!

  • The dirty pink dinosaur is noisily devouring its young!"

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • And look, there is a good argument to make

  • that helping people stay in their homes after a disaster

  • is what government is for.

  • But remember, a big chunk of that money

  • is just going to the insurance companies

  • and another shockingly big chunk of that money

  • goes to very few homes.

  • For instance, along the Gulf Coast

  • in Florida, just one percent of properties covered

  • by the NFIP have accounted for a quarter of flood claims.

  • These are called... (STAMMERS)

  • ...so-called "Repetitive-loss properties."

  • Now, they are homes that can flood over and over

  • and over again, getting payments each and every time.

  • And some of them are costing us a fortune.

  • REPORTER 5: Just recently, an article in The Washington Post

  • highlighted a home in Pointe Coupee Parish

  • that has flooded 40 times.

  • While the house is valued at just $56,000,

  • the NFIP has doled out nearly $430,000

  • to cover flood claims.

  • -So, that is just stupid. -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • Because if nothing else, if your house floods 40 times,

  • Mother Nature is sending you a pretty clear message,

  • and that message is, "Hey, would you mind leaving?

  • Some weird fish would like to fuck in here now."

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • And some parts of the country

  • have particularly extreme examples of this.

  • Now, you remember Mitch and Daniel?

  • The pastel deathtrap that they were looking at

  • is on a place called Dauphin Island,

  • where over the past two decades, homeowners have paid

  • just $9.3 million in premiums into the NFIP,

  • but they've received $72.2 million in payments

  • for their damaged homes.

  • It is so bad that the island got written up by Bloomberg

  • under the headline, "Love of Coastal Living

  • is Draining U.S. Disaster Funds."

  • And at first glance, we thought, "Hold on.

  • Isn't that the exact same eyesore

  • on stilts that Mitch and Daniel almost bought?"

  • Well, the good news is, it's actually not.

  • The bad news is,

  • it's literally the house next door

  • and it was also featured on a different episode

  • of Buying the Beach.

  • WOMAN: It's right in the water.

  • It wasn't close to the beach, it was in the ocean.

  • The waves are just... right here.

  • (EXHALES) It's literally in the ocean.

  • This is insane.

  • -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -Yeah, it is insane, but what's even crazier is

  • at the end of the episode,

  • -they decided to buy the house! -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • But even if you were able to overlook

  • the repetitive loss properties, which you shouldn't,

  • there is another issue, and that is that nearly one

  • out of every five homes covered under the NFIP

  • is a second home.

  • And because the program isn't means tested,

  • the benefits frequently go to some wealthy individual's

  • vacation homes.

  • One such property belonged to John Stossel,

  • a Fox News personality,

  • and partially hydrogenated Tom Selleck.

  • -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -And-- and I'll let Stossel,

  • who really answers the question "What if Freddie Mercury had

  • quit singing to become an assistant floor manager

  • -at Men's Warehouse?" I'll-- -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • I'll let him tell you all about it,

  • 'cause even he knew it was ridiculous.

  • JOHN STOSSEL: Years ago, I built this beach house.

  • That's younger me, there.

  • The house was on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean,

  • a risky place to build, but I built anyway.

  • 'Cause a federal program guaranteed my investment.

  • Eventually, a storm swept away my first floor,

  • but I didn't lose a penny.

  • Thanks. I never invited you there,

  • but you paid for my new first floor.

  • Okay, so now Stossel is clearly just baiting people,

  • because under no circumstances does

  • anyone want to be funding the reconstruction

  • of the world's smuggest man's rickety sea prison.

  • -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -And there is lots

  • to be confused about there, not-- not least of which,

  • that photo of Stossel posing shirtless

  • in skin-tight white swim trunks from hundreds of feet away.

  • -Who took that photo? -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • It can't be another human who wanted it.

  • So, here's my guess.

  • I think that he put a camera on a long delay timer,

  • then sprinted for a full 45 seconds

  • back to the deck of his house,

  • whispering "hurry, hurry, hurry!"

  • to himself the entire time, and got in position

  • just in time for that photo to happen.

  • That is the only scientifically possible explanation.

  • We debated this the entire fucking week

  • and it's the only scenario that we could all agree on.

  • -(AUDIENCE CHEERING) -And look-- look.

  • Here's the-- here's the thing.

  • If... If you choose to build something in a risky place

  • like John Stossel's salt-battered,

  • -bottom's-only beach mistake, -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • you should absolutely be allowed to do that,

  • but you shouldn't expect the government

  • to repeatedly help you rebuild when things inevitably go wrong.

  • However, the vast majority, the vast majority here

  • of NFIP beneficiaries are not wealthy,

  • or second homeowners.

  • They often really need this program and cannot afford

  • for it to go under.

  • And, for those stuck in repetitive loss properties,

  • it is easy for anyone to just say, "They should move,

  • they should just move."

  • But, it's much more difficult than that

  • as this Kentucky woman,

  • whose home has flooded repeatedly, will tell you.

  • We couldn't sell our house.

  • Who would want to buy a house that's had this many

  • repetitive floods in it?

  • Who would want to buy a house?

  • We have neighbors that have had their houses up for sale

  • for two and three years

  • and haven't even had anyone come and view the house.

  • We need a buy out from FEMA or from whoever it is that

  • is responsible for this.

  • Right, and her decision to try and leave that home

  • could not have been easy because

  • you don't want to throw out the baby with the floodwater.

  • But, at a certain point, the responsible thing to do

  • is to get a better, more water-resistant baby.

  • Which is, incidentally, also the title of Britain's

  • best-selling book on teaching children to swim.

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • Now, unfortunately, our buy-out programs are hugely

  • underfunded and prohibitively slow.

  • It can take years for buy-outs to get approved,

  • by which point, homeowner's have probably had to

  • rebuild their house at the government's expense

  • and it may have already flooded again.

  • So, essentially, a government program

  • that was supposed to help people in flooded homes

  • is sometimes trapping them inside them indefinitely.

  • And trapping people in structurally-unsound homes

  • isn't what the government is for,

  • it's what buying the beach is for.

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • No, there just has to be a better way here,

  • and there are some key things that we can do

  • to improve this program.

  • We can do things like means-test it

  • and eventually get rid of discounts for second homes

  • and gradually increase the insurance rates

  • on some properties so that they reflect actual risk.

  • Unfortunately, the last time that Congress tried

  • a major reform of the NFIP

  • with the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012,

  • the result was that many people's rates skyrocketed

  • overnight and politicians were so spooked by angry constituents

  • they significantly scaled back many of the reforms.

  • And, I'm not saying that this will ever be politically easy.

  • Because even if you do properly fund and streamline

  • a buy-out scheme, there are still going to be cases

  • where people just want to stay put.

  • Right here in New York, there is a low-line community

  • called "Broad Channel," where the streets can flood

  • twice a month.

  • Its residents fought against those rate increases

  • a few years ago and many of them have no interest in leaving.

  • No, the neighborhood's too great then.

  • Listen, my whole house got destroyed by Sandy and I--

  • you know, I redid my whole house.

  • I-- You know, people were like, "You're crazy, you should move."

  • I said, "Absolutely not."

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • But, you're standing in water right now.

  • Maybe the people telling you to move were saying,

  • "At the very least, can you move up five inches to dry land?"

  • (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • But the hard truth here is even expensive interventions

  • are likely to only buy that community a little more time

  • and people in Broad Channel will eventually be leaving,

  • whether it's by moving truck or by boat

  • because environmental conditions are going to get worse.

  • Heavy downpours have increased in the last 50 years

  • and sea levels have been climbing steadily

  • and I'm not saying that that is because of climate change

  • even though...

  • (DRAMATIC MALE VOICE OVER)

  • It just is. It just-- It just is. Precisely.

  • The NFIP is actually due for re-authorization this December

  • and I would argue that it is time to take another shot at

  • serious thoughtful reform because without it

  • we have an unstable, unsustainable program

  • that is indirectly harming some of the people

  • that it was designed to help and...

  • (STAMMERING) I do-- I don't have any--

  • -I've told you the last time-- -John, John, John! Relax!

  • I'm not here for Tostitos.

  • -Really? -Yeah.

  • Hold on. You-- You-- You can talk?

  • Of course. Seagulls can talk.

  • We just choose to listen most of the time.

  • -♪ (PIANO PLAYS SOFTLY) ♪ -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • Oh, well, that's-- That's actually very nice.

  • And, I heard what you were saying about flooding

  • -and you are right. -Mm-hmm.

  • I've seen it. I'm a seagull.

  • -Yeah. -Some people in high-risk areas

  • will need to move

  • and we should give 'em the help that they can do that with.

  • -Right. Okay. -Because...

  • While leavin' your home is hard, being forced out when it's

  • uninhabitable is ten times harder.

  • -Right. -And, after all,

  • your home isn't just walls and a roof,

  • it's where the people you love are.

  • Aw! Seagull, I gotta say that was absolutely beautiful.

  • Yeah, not bad for a "flying beach rat."

  • -Aw, no, no, no, no, no, don't-- -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

  • Don't talk like that about yourself. No, don't, don't.

  • It's okay. I know it's true. You know it's true.

  • Everybody watchin' knows it's true.

  • Hey, I eat French fries out of the garbage.

  • Yeah, you're right. You make a good point.

  • You're absolutely disgusting.

  • -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -But-- But you know what?

  • I am truly sorry for misjudging your motives in coming here.

  • That's okay, Johnny. Uh, just one more thing...

  • Sure. Anything.

  • You have any Tostitos?

  • Fuck you! No! I do not have any Tostitos!

  • They're all gone. Get the fuck outta here.

  • -Get outta here! -(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)

Floods. They are clearly catastrophic, traumatic events,

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