Historic flooding last week killed at least six people in Indiana, where Neptune Flood data shows fewer than one in 200 homes carry flood insurance. The same week, Hurricane Lala struck Hawaii, where fewer than one in 40 homes carry a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy.
The White River in Indiana crested at nearly 25 feet in Anderson and Madison County. That broke a flood record that had stood since 1913, according to data gathered by the Associated Press. Governor Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency, and President Trump approved a presidential emergency declaration on August 16.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Lala made a direct hit on the Big Island as a Category 1 hurricane on August 15, before weakening to a tropical storm. The National Weather Service issued a life-threatening flash flood emergency for parts of the Big Island. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said 100 or more homes on the southern part of the island were destroyed or damaged.
The timing of both events gives a precise count to a problem brokers face after major floods: clients who never purchased separate flood coverage.
Neptune Flood's analysis of NFIP data shows statewide flood insurance participation in Indiana has fallen sharply over the past 15 years. The state had 30,820 NFIP policies in 2011 and now has 13,446, a 56% decline. Fewer than 0.48% of Indiana homes carry an NFIP policy.
In Madison County, where the White River broke its 1913 record, only one in 320 homes has flood insurance. Policy counts dropped 56% since 2012. In Delaware County, site of the flash-flood emergency, 0.7% of homes are covered, down 44% since 2012.
In Marion County, home of Indianapolis, only 0.7% of homes carry flood coverage, down 55% since 2015. In Henry County, just one in 430 homes carries a policy today, down from one in 210 in 2013.
Hawaii's NFIP participation has also declined, despite the state's direct exposure to hurricanes and atmospheric rivers. Statewide, 2.4% of Hawaii homes carry an NFIP policy, down 29% since 2015. The current count is 11,864 policies.
On the Big Island, only 1.2% of residential properties have an NFIP flood policy, down 31% since 2018. Maui County stands at 3%, down 34% since 2015.
The declines in both states are part of a broader national pattern. NFIP enrollment peaked at approximately 5.7 million policies in 2009, according to a December 2025 study in the Journal of Catastrophe Risk and Resilience. The program now covers under 4.7 million policyholders, according to the Congressional Research Service.
FEMA estimates that only about 4% of American homeowners carry flood insurance of any kind. That same study found that Risk Rating 2.0, fully implemented in April 2023, cut new NFIP policies by 11% to 39%. In a February 2026 letter to FEMA's acting administrator, US senators said the steepest declines hit communities least able to absorb annual rate hikes.
The NFIP's current authorization expires September 30. Congress has extended it on a short-term basis 34 times since fiscal year 2017.
Standard homeowners policies in both Indiana and Hawaii do not cover flood damage. A separate flood policy is required, either through FEMA's NFIP or a private flood carrier. Coverage depends on whether a client chose to purchase it, often tied to whether their property sits within a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area.
Many properties damaged in Indiana's current flooding sit outside FEMA's mapped floodplains. FEMA's maps are built primarily around river overflow and coastal storm surge. The White River event was driven by intense rainfall, the kind of flood that FEMA maps have historically undercounted.
Research by climate risk firm First Street found that more than twice as many US properties carry meaningful flood risk as FEMA's maps record. Neptune Flood's own data puts 45% of NFIP claims outside mapped floodplains, consistent with independent studies placing the figure at 30% to 40%.
Neptune Flood's county-level data provides specific grounds for a coverage conversation for brokers serving clients in Indiana and Hawaii. NFIP policies remain available through agents in both states. Record Indiana flooding and what it means for flood coverage gaps across the Midwest has put renewed pressure on the conversation.
Private flood carriers operate alongside the federal program, often at higher limits - the NFIP caps residential building coverage at $250,000, while private flood carriers have raised limits to address NFIP's constraints for higher-value properties. The growing private flood market still has not resolved America's flood coverage crisis - and this week's events in two states illustrate exactly why.
