美国国家公共电台 NPR In Storm-Tossed Houston Area, Most Homeowners Lack Flood Insurance

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Texas officials say flooding from Harvey has damaged some 49,000 homes. That's not a final count. Most of those homeowners never got flood insurance and face a long road to recovery. NPR's Jim Zarroli has more.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE¹: Once they've made their way through flooded streets and found shelter somewhere, a lot of people in the Houston area will have to begin to assess how much their homes have been damaged. Robert Hunter is a former Texas insurance commissioner².

ROBERT HUNTER: It's a terrible disaster just on the facts you see when you look at TV or the pictures. But it's also a terrible potential second disaster because so many people are not going to be insured. And what's going to happen probably for some people is they'll just walk away from the homes.

ZARROLI: The federal government offers flood insurance, but fewer than 20 percent of people in the Houston area take it, and so they're not covered for the kind of damage that Harvey has caused. Carolyn Kousky is with the Wharton Risk Management Decision Processes Center.

CAROLYN KOUSKY: Standard homeowners policies will not cover damage from flooding. And given that this is very much a flood event, that's going to be problematic for lots of people.

ZARROLI: There are people such as Jaime Botello, a welder³ who was at a shelter in North Houston with his wife today. He says his house is covered for fire and other hazards but not flooding.

JAIME BOTELLO: I don't have the insurance for the flood. I can't afford a thousand dollars a month.

ZARROLI: Now he says floodwaters have engulfed⁴ the house he's lived in for 30 years.

BOTELLO: My neighbors sent me a picture over my phone. And my house - it just got over-flooded all the way to the top.

ZARROLI: For people without flood insurance, there are a few options. Bob Hunter says they can apply for federal loans to rebuild their homes.

HUNTER: You end up with a low-interest loan. It may be as low as zero percent interest, but it's still a loan, and you have your old mortgage to pay. And now you've got a new loan to pay off.

ZARROLI: The federal government also provides direct grants to repair homes that are damaged by the flooding. They don't have to be paid back, but recipients⁵ only get enough money to make their homes habitable, not to repair them altogether. And that's typically not all that much money. There may be more money coming in as well. Hunter says Congress is likely to allocate⁶ many billions of dollars for storm relief.

HUNTER: What's going on is so unprecedented⁷ and so terrible and horrible that Congress is probably going to be very generous in how they do disaster relief.

ZARROLI: Some of the money is likely to go directly to cities and towns hit by the storm in the form of block grants. But it typically takes a long time for Congress to design and implement⁸ programs to dole⁹ out the money, says Carolyn Kousky.

KOUSKY: That can take months or even years in some cases between when it's authorized¹⁰ by Congress and when a person actually sees a check from it.

ZARROLI: Kousky says some of the money allocated¹¹ by Congress for Katrina recovery was still being handed out a decade after the storm hit. For Texas residents, there's another wrinkle as well. A new law goes into effect on September 1 that makes it harder for people to sue insurance companies that take too long to pay claims. Again, Bob Hunter...

HUNTER: And you can still file a claim, but it's much more difficult and much less likely that you have a lawyer that wants to do it because of the risk of not getting paid.

ZARROLI: State officials say the law shouldn't affect people whose homes were damaged by Harvey. But the new law is already adding to the confusion a lot of people feel as they begin to rebuild their lives. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 welder   

n电焊工

参考例句：

• He left school at 15 to become an apprentice to a welder.他15岁离开了中学成为一个焊接工人的学徒。
• Welder done at least once a month when the dust handling.焊机时每月至少做一次除尘处理。

4 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

9 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

10 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

11 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。