Flooded Houston-area homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The federal government has allocated millions of dollars to buyback flooded homes. | Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

U.S. needs better policy for flood zones, says NRDC report, or risks ?cycle of flood-rebuild-repeat? After a hurricane or flood, the federal government offers a helping hand to homeowners, offering relief funds to relocate or rebuild. But a new report found that Americans with flood-damaged homes wait an average of five years for federal buyout assistance, a delay that can lead to risky, costly rebuilding in flood-prone areas as rising sea levels and more severe storms push more people to relocate further inland.
Going Under: Long Wait Times for Post-Flood Buyouts Leave Homeowners Underwater, a report released earlier this week compiled by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), examined three decades of buyout and funding data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The report describes a program with promise that?s been hampered by delays; nearly 200 properties approved for buybacks more than five years ago were still awaiting official closure. But the bigger problem, according to the report, is that the delay in buyout assistance often causes homeowners to lean towards rebuilding, due to the guarantees backed into the National Flood Insurance Program, or even sell to an investor or speculator for a loss. The investor then flips the property to the n...