Declarations

A Smaller Zone

“We actually have less acreage in the flood zone than before. … We were quite pleased.”

—Broussard Mayor Charles Langlinais commented on the impact on his city of a new flood map for Louisiana’s Lafayette Parish. The final version of the Federal Emergency Management Agency flood map is expected to offer a mixed bag, shrinking flood zones in some areas while making large tracts of vacant land more difficult to develop. Based on preliminary information on the new flood zones from FEMA, some communities might see a drop in the amount of land designated as a flood zone. AP

Driven to Distraction

“Distraction is becoming the new DUI. … This is going to reach epidemic proportions.”

—National Transportation and Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt. The NTSB said the United States risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving – talking, texting and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats and trains – as taboo as drunken driving. In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed a bill that would have outlawed sending or reading text messages while driving. Lawmakers approved the texting ban, but Perry called it an “overreach” and “government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”

Looking for the Good Risk

“Insurers are all looking for good risks, whether it is a fire insurance company that wants a building that is sprinklered and doesn’t have oily rags laying around – this is the equivalent in the IT area. They want good systems, they want good protection, they want good risk.”

—Don Glazier, a principal at Integro Insurance Brokers in Chicago. The recent string of sensational hacker attacks is increasing the demand for “cyberinsurance.” After 10 years of writing policies, industry experts said a consensus is building on what “cyberinsurance” is. However, the risk is a moving target, both for companies seeking coverage and the insurers, so standardization continues to be elusive.Reuters

Topics Cyber Flood