Houston shells out $9.7M to reinstate flood insurance after Harvey

Houston City Hall ( File Photo) Houston City Hall ( File Photo) Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Houston shells out $9.7M to reinstate flood insurance after Harvey 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

City Council approved spending $9.7 million to reinstate flood insurance coverage for its facilities after Hurricane Harvey busted Houston’s prior coverage maximum.

Mayor Sylvester Turner has said city buildings suffered about $75 million in storm damage beyond what the city’s $100 million policy would cover.

Claims against the city’s flood insurance policy had never exceeded $33 million in prior storms, he said.

With weeks still to go in hurricane season and the city not scheduled to renew its insurance coverage until April, the council approved a $9.7 million agenda item Wednesday to reinstate the same level of flood coverage it had before Harvey hit.

The item passed unanimously with almost no discussion, an indicator of the severity of Harvey's wreckage. In normal situations, council spends hours debating allocations a third that size.

The city’s insurance coverage is provided by a combination of 18 insurance carriers, “as no single company can provide insurance coverage for the city’s property risk,” according to an agenda briefing document.

The coverage purchased Wednesday will continue to run through the same ending policy date of April 1, and will cover flood damage to buildings and their contents, and provides coverage for the interruption of business at city airport and convention facilities.