118 STAT. 713 PUBLIC LAW 108–264—JUNE 30, 2004 recovery from floods, mitigate future losses, save lives, and reduce the personal and national costs of flood disas ters; (2) the national flood insurance program insures approxi mately 4,400,000 policyholders; (3) approximately 48,000 properties currently insured under the program have experienced, within a 10 year period, 2 or more flood losses where each such loss exceeds the amount $1,000; (4) approximately 10,000 of these repetitive loss properties have experienced either 2 or 3 losses that cumulatively exceed building value or 4 or more losses, each exceeding $1,000; (5) repetitive loss properties constitute a significant drain on the resources of the national flood insurance program, costing about $200,000,000 annually; (6) repetitive loss properties comprise approximately 1 per cent of currently insured properties but are expected to account for 25 to 30 percent of claims losses; (7) the vast majority of repetitive loss properties were built before local community implementation of floodplain manage ment standards under the program and thus are eligible for subsidized flood insurance; (8) while some property owners take advantage of the program allowing subsidized flood insurance without requiring mitigation action, others are trapped in a vicious cycle of suf fering flooding, then repairing flood damage, then suffering flooding, without the means to mitigate losses or move out of harm’s way; (9) mitigation of repetitive loss properties through buyouts, elevations, relocations, or flood proofing will produce savings for policyholders under the program and for Federal taxpayers through reduced flood insurance losses and reduced Federal disaster assistance; (10) a strategy of making mitigation offers aimed at high priority repetitive loss properties and shifting more of the bur den of recovery costs to property owners who choose to remain vulnerable to repetitive flood damage can encourage property owners to take appropriate actions that reduce loss of life and property damage and benefit the financial soundness of the program; (11) the method for addressing repetitive loss properties should be flexible enough to take into consideration legitimate circumstances that may prevent an owner from taking a mitiga tion action; and (12) focusing the mitigation and buy out of repetitive loss properties upon communities and property owners that choose to voluntarily participate in a mitigation and buy out program will maximize the benefits of such a program, while minimizing any adverse impact on communities and property owners.
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