Closing the Flood Gap: Stories, Insights and Solutions for Your Clients

Flood expert and CEO of IBHS, Roy Wright, dives deep on flood risk and insurance

Ep. 05

12.04.2025

Listen to a conversation on flood risk and insurance with Roy Wright, CEO of IBHS and former head of the NFIP, hosted by Josh Bloch, Head of Internal Consulting at PURE.

Chapter One: How Flood Is Reaching Further

In this chapter, we discuss how flooding is now reaching far beyond FEMA-mapped zones as heavier rainfall overwhelms aging drainage systems. Roy notes that many people who never expected to experience a flood—like during Hurricane Ida—are now seeing real losses.
Chapter Two: Changing Rainfall

Rain is falling in shorter but more intense bursts, even on “normal” weather days. We explain how this concentrated precipitation often outpaces what stormwater systems can handle.
Chapter Three: The Benefits of Private Flood Insurance

This chapter explains why private flood insurance is increasingly important, especially for homes just outside high-risk zones. We look at how private options can offer better coverage, better pricing and ultimately expand the number of people protected.
Chapter Four: Flood Mitigation

In this chapter, we talk about the limited ways to truly mitigate flood risk compared to other perils, as large-scale flood control and home elevation are costly and out of reach for most homeowners.
Chapter Five: The Important Role of Brokers

Major events, like Hurricanes Harvey and the Baton Rouge floods, revealed how often flooding happens outside high-risk areas. We look at the confusion many consumers have about what insurance covers and what role brokers play in helping people understand accessible, affordable flood options.
Chapter Six: Normalizing Flood Insurance

In this chapter, Roy discusses how we should normalize offering flood insurance to every homeowner. We envision a future where coverage expands from about 6 million policies today to 20 million, allowing far more households to recover when flooding inevitably occurs.

Our guest

Roy Wright

Guest

Convinced the continuing cycle of human suffering striking families and communities following severe weather can be broken, Roy Wright leads a team of scientists and risk communicators at IBHS who deliver strategies to build safer and stronger homes and businesses. He is a property insurance expert and resiliency leader. For two decades, Roy has served in roles, including the head of the NFIP, that put him on the ground in the immediate aftermath of weather-driven and climate-related disasters, walking through damaged homes with survivors and leading the charge for more survivable homes and businesses.