Flooded houses are seen in Mariner's Cove in Long Neck during a nor'easter Oct. 12, 2025.

The 13-day-old government shutdown is raising alarms in coastal and other flood-prone areas where homeowners depend on coverage from the national insurer that covers gaps in the private insurance market.

The National Flood Insurance Program was one of many programs that ran out on Sept. 30. Mortgage lenders require homeowners in high-risk areas to carry insurance against flood, but few private homeowners’ policies offer that coverage.

The NFIP covers 4.7 million policyholders in 23,000 communities across the country, for a total of $1.3 trillion in flood insurance, according to an analysis from the National Association of Realtors.

During previous government shutdowns, some lenders have waived the requirement or allowed existing policies to be transferred, NAR notes. But as the current standoff grinds on, such workarounds may become impossible.

NAR estimates as many as 1,400 closings could be impacted each day that the government remains shuttered.

More to the point, many homeowners face two months of the Atlantic hurricane season – and beyond – with no flood insurance. Over the weekend, a nor’easter hit the Atlantic coast, and it is expected to linger.

"This storm arrives at a moment of critical federal dysfunction: the ongoing government shutdown has already disrupted vital disaster recovery operations," wrote organizers at Organizing Resilience, a national disaster-response group, in a statement.

In addition to the NFIP expiration, the statement continued, "FEMA is operating on a bare-bones basis, limited to only life-saving and life-sustaining operations. This means families impacted by this storm will not have access to the full suite of federal disaster assistance – no family aid, no debris removal support, no long-term recovery funding."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DC shutdown hits National Flood Insurance Program, blocking millions from coverage

Reporting by Andrea Riquier, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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