Rick Scott blasts flood insurance increases

Florida Gov. Rick Scott paid a visit to Worth Avenue in Palm Beach Thursday to rail against rate increases in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Not long after portions of nearby Boynton Beach and Delray Beach dealt with heavy flooding from a recent rainstorm, Scott chatted with Worth Avenue shoppers about the impact of insurance increases under the Biggert-Waters Act adopted by Congress in 2012, the Palm Beach Post reported. State Rep. Irv Slosberg had requested that Scott visit flooded areas in the county and declare a state of emergency, but the governor said the state’s Division of Emergency Management has to make that call.

Palm Beach has more than 1,900 of nearly 5,000 properties in the county that face the biggest increases in flood insurance rates under the national program. Real estate observers who agree with Scott’s call for a stop to rate increases say they are extremely harmful to the sector and broader economy. [Palm Beach Post] — Eric Kalis