Right now, the news seems to be covering the oil spill. It’s tragic how bad the oil is affecting our beaches and the animals and plants. But in the rush to fix the oil spill, several other major issues are taking a back seat. Not to say that the oil spill is not a major issue, but there are other things that need to be dealt with. I’m talking about the National Flood Insurance Program that Congress is supposed to be working on. The Flood Program has been put on hold. They are taking no new business until Congress can work out a few kinks and make some necessary changes.

But since nothing has been done to repair the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), flood insurance is taking a dive. If you’re buying a new house, and the mortgage company requires flood insurance, you’re stuck. As of May 31, 2010, NFIP is no longer accepting new business and if you’re late on your renewal, you could lose your current policy.

Arkansas recently had some massive flooding; Oklahoma City and Tulsa also had severe flooding. But without flood insurance, there’s no insurance to help pay for damages caused in the flooding. Home insurance will not pay for flooding, only Flood Insurance.  New homeowners looking to purchase a home should be aware if their home is in a flood zone. If it is, there’s no flood insurance. So if they can’t get flood insurance as required by their mortgage company, then they can’t close on their home. This means they can’t move in to their new home.  Oh frustrating would it be to try and close on a new home but you can’t because there’s no new flood insurance.

Current flood policy holders should be very conscious of when their renewal comes up. Do NOT be late with your renewal payment. You don’t want to lose the policy that you already have.  So until Congress reauthorizes the NFIP retroactively, we’re all stuck in no man’s land.