'Don't wait until it’s too late': Hidalgo encourages residents to get flood insurance for 2021 hurricane season

As Texas enters the hurricane season, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is urging local residents to apply for flood insurance and make sure existing flood insurance policies are up to date.

Hurricane season began on June 1, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting that 2021 hurricane conditions will be "above normal."

"Don't wait until it’s too late to get flood insurance," Judge Hidalgo wrote in a May 30 Twitter post. "Act now to protect yourself and your family."

Besides the above normal chance for hurricanes this year, other factors have made flood insurance more crucial than ever. Moody’s Investors Service recently released a report saying that storm recovery could be difficult for 2021 given the current high costs of construction materials, MarketWatch reported.

According to Moody's analysts, the price of lumber and wood is up 90% compared to a year ago and steel-mill products are up 67% versus April 2020.

Houston and Harris County residents are especially vulnerable in light of the Texas General Land Office's recent decision to not award the jurisdictions any federal Harvey related flood protection funding, according to AP News.

"As we inch closer and closer to the official start of hurricane season, take time now to do an insurance check-up," Judge Hidalgo tweeted from her office's official Twitter account on May 30. "Are you covered for flood damage? Remember, it takes 30 days for flood insurance to take effect."

NOAA is predicting with 70% confidence that 2021 will have a range of 13 to 20 named storms, of which six to 10 storms will have winds in excess of 74 mph and can be labeled as hurricanes and three to five storms with winds over 111 mph.

“Now is the time for communities along the coastline as well as inland to get prepared for the dangers that hurricanes can bring,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, according to NOAA. “The experts at NOAA are poised to deliver life-saving early warnings and forecasts to communities, which will also help minimize the economic impacts of storms.”

The Atlantic hurricane lasts from June 1 through Nov. 30.