Floodwaters. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

Though not common knowledge, private insurers have a rich history of insuring the peril of flood in America. In fact, the National Association of (private) Flood Insurers, assumed 48% of America's flood risk under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in December 1977.

The tables turned in March of 1978 when federal administrators nationalized the U.S. flood insurance industry and in the words of the top NFIP federal administrator at the time- "kicked out" the private market.

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