SCARBOROUGH (WGME) — The cost of owning a home in Maine is about to go up.
Dow Jones financial site MarketWatch predicts that Maine homeowners will likely see a 19 percent increase in insurance premiums next year. Coastal homeowners are expected to see an even larger increase, especially families in flood zones who are required to carry flood insurance.
“It’s a tragedy that’s already happening. And it’s only going to get worse,” said Scarborough homeowner Barbara Bombaci.
For 60 years, she and her husband, Vin Bombaci, have lived on Higgins Beach overlooking the ocean. Climate change, which has caused rising sea levels and more severe storms in the past four years, worries them.
“It’s tragic what happened on the beach. Last winter was just devastating. And some people really lost a lot of value in their homes,” Vin Bombaci said.
Homeowners have already seen increases in their property taxes.
“We were attacked a few years ago,” said Priscilla Reising, owner of a cabin on Higgins Beach.
In fact, high tide reaches your property.
Now, families are preparing for what is expected to be a significant increase in flood and property insurance rates due to all the damage caused by storms in Maine last year.
“All of these factors continue to go up and insurance is definitely one of the biggest ones,” Barbara Bombaci said.
Reising and others are paying out of pocket to rebuild levees destroyed by the January storms.
Insurance does not cover erosion losses.
“We’re not made of money,” Reising said.
His relative, Peter Naiden, owns a cottage next door.
“You get to a point where you just have to do what you have to do,” Naiden said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) says she feels for these long-time homeowners.
“In some cases, insurance isn’t even available when they really need it,” Pingree said.
Pingree is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to give homeowners insured by the National Flood Insurance Program more flexibility to try to avoid the impact of natural disasters.
“This allows you to get a partial payment and maybe be able to move the house or repair it before it is completely destroyed,” Pingree said. “This would allow you to do it before a total disaster or environmental hazards occur from a house falling into the water.”
The Bombacis hope it never comes to that. They plan to leave this house to their children. For now, their house is high enough to not be in the new floodplain and they are not required to purchase flood insurance.
Pingree says coastal families must make their homes more storm-resistant if they hope to preserve them for the next generation.
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