Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania is hundreds of miles from the boardwalk and the beach, but mere steps from the Susquehanna River. And while no one has made a reality show about this sleepy town yet, they do share one similarity with their namesake: flooding.
So when Michael and Lurie Portanova bought a strip of buildings downtown in 2012, they weren't surprised to learn that they'd have to buy flood insurance, for about $3,000 a year.
But no one told them about a recently-passed law called the Biggert-Waters Act.
"We feel that we were kind of cheated there, because we would have walked away if we'd known it would cost us $40,000 a year," says Lurie Portanova.
Biggert-Waters removed all the federal subsidies from flood insurance. The Portanova's saw their annual insurance premium go from $3,000 a year to $40,000.
"Even if a flood came, I don't think there is $40,000 worth of damage in these buildings," says Michael Portanova. "And that's just one year's payment."
Most people didn't even know their flood insurance rates were government subsidized. They thought that the amount they paid was the cost of flood insurance. But if your house was built before the NFIP was started in 1968, the actual cost of flood insurance is far higher than what you've been paying.
Flood insurance premiums are calculated based on the lowest point of your house. New construction is built above the flood levels, and the insurance rates can be quite reasonable. But many Pennsylvania houses are old-school, with deep basements.
This is part three in a series on waterfront development statewide. Read more of this report at the website of our partner Keystone Crossroads.
