You're right that any fed-backed lender will require that coverage in high-hazard areas, but this flood blew past those FEMA map areas (which are likely lagging this climate change era). Also, in my experience, people drop that coverage the millisecond they pay off their mortgage, so now it's older
folks who are more vulnerable to this kind of terrible event. Here's an ABC article on the map zones (I should add, even when these maps are "accurate", they're just an estimate and a big event can still be larger than was normally expected). abcnews.go.com/US/fema-maps...
Thank you very much for this thoughtful reply; this is exactly the info I wanted to know.