Tropical Storm Irene recently stormed across the northeastern United States, leaving somewhere billions of dollars in damages in its wake. But it won’t be insurance companies footing the bill – most likely, it’ll be taxpayers. This is partly due to the fact that most people that the storm affected don’t have insurance that covers floods, but the federal government’s insurance program is also billions of dollars in debt. Steven Stichter, chief operating officer at Kinetic Analysis Corporation, on how this could happen and what this could mean for the millions of victims of Hurricane Irene. Stuart Hurd, town manager of Bennington, Vermont, gives the latest from his town.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.