COASTAL Act Program

The Consumer Option for an Alternative System To Allocate Losses (COASTAL) Act, which was included in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012, was enacted to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determine the extent to which wind vs. water was the cause of damage in cases where little tangible evidence exists beyond a building’s foundation following a tropical cyclone (also known as “indeterminate losses” or “slabs”). This determination is needed for the proper and timely adjustment of insurance claims, as water damage is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), while wind damage is covered by private insurers. The Act intends to avoid excessive and costly delays in the recovery process due to litigation between the Federal government and private insurers. The COASTAL Act requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to produce detailed “post-storm assessments” following certain tropical cyclones impacting the U.S. and its territories. The assessments will be produced using a Named Storm Event Model (NSEM) which will indicate the strength and timing of damaging winds and water at a given location within the impacted area. NOAA is required to make post-storm assessment results and observations from the storm available to the public via the Coastal Wind and Water Event Database (CWWED). The NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) provides programmatic oversight for the development and implementation of the COASTAL Act. This presentation will include a description of the program as well as progress made to date on the development of the NSEM and CWWED.