flood insurance

Flood insurance program extended

(PHILLY BURBS) - A “hiatus” in the National Flood Insurance Program this month prevented the sale of thousands of homes, according to the government.

It took a vote from Congress and the president’s signature, but Trisha Hill of Middletown finally can sell her mom’s house.

The Hill family has been trying for about a month to sell a Levittown Jubilee on Kenwood Drive in Bristol Township.

But the house, owned by Hill’s 93-year-old mother, is in a flood plain, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program.

The NFIP - more than $18 billion in debt - went into a “hiatus” period for 18 days in April, according to FEMA. This complicated the sale and re-financing of thousands of flood plain properties across the nation, according to the government.

The Senate voted late Thursday to extend the insurance program as part of a $7.5 billion spending package, which included unemployment benefits and defense programs. President Barack Obama signed the bill Friday morning.

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