We live in an area where we are fortunate to not have to worry about a hurricane destroying our communities.

The Four Corners Board of Realtors is raising funds for the rescue, relief, and rebuilding efforts in the affected areas. If you would like to add to our donation, please make a check payable to either the Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse – or both – and drop off at our board office, located in the Vectra Bank building, during business hours.

This is a timely alert to our communities regarding the National Flood Insurance Program, which will expire on September 30, and that may affect us even in Southwest Colorado. We encourage all property owners to research the NFIP and then contact our Congress members to ask for their approval of the reauthorization of this program.

We are not on the coast so why does this concern us? According to the National Association of Realtors, flood disasters have claimed more life and property than any other natural disaster, and have been declared in all states during just the past five years. For just Hurricane Harvey, uninsured flood loss is expected to be about 70 percent of the total flood loss for residential properties, based on an article from National Mortgage News.

Not all properties are in flood “zones” and certainly are not required to carry flood insurance, unless you have a mortgage. Then, flood insurance is required if your home is in a designated flood zone, based on maps generated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Without any requirement forcing home owners to buy coverage, the chance of a catastrophic flood event in a flood zone still exists. This is a human nature gamble that many people risk. A risk that forces all of us to pay. The NFIP offers an alternative in the insurance market to disaster relief funded by taxpayers. It is a program that has mostly been self-sufficient but has been hit by catastrophic events too great to overcome including Katrina and Sandy; we can all predict that Harvey and Irma will demand taxpayer resources of a great magnitude. Consequently, the NFIP must borrow money from taxpayers to cover such events.

If the NFIP ends, it can no longer generate funds (premiums) to pay toward and reduce that loan balance. Consider that neither loan subsidies nor grants for disaster relief would ever be repaid. We hope this will open the door for you to find out more about the NFIP. Share your opinion and concerns with our elected representatives.

Brenda Bates, Four Corners Board of Realtors president

Cortez