The cost of federal flood insurance is expected to rise for thousands of Houston-area homeowners as Congress looks to reform a program that's billions of dollars in debt.
The National Flood Insurance Program provides coverage to more than 300,000 homes in Harris and Galveston counties.
But the Houston Chronicle reports it's $24.6 billion in debt and Congress has a September deadline to reform and renew it.
The program was created because private insurers alone couldn't bear the risk of catastrophic losses.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office notes in a recent report, however, that the federal initiative "offers rates that do not fully reflect the risk of flooding."
A person living near the coast in Galveston County can pay up to $8,000 in flood insurance.