The federal government overpaid upward of $177.2 million fordisaster recovery in Florida in 2004 and 2005, says a new reportfrom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of InspectorGeneral.

According to an article by The Hill, the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA) failed to have insureds affected by sevenseperate hurricanes during that period--including HurricaneKatrina--maximize their own private insurance before receivingfederal funds. FEMA's Florida-based emergency managementdepartment, which handled the disaster claims, did an "inadequate"job reviewing insurance plans, says the IG report. The IG says FEMApaid out funds for damages "that insurance should havecovered."

To make matters worse, the report found the Florida office wasaware of the deficiencies in its insurance review process, but didnothing to correct them. Futhermore, "FEMA management had beenaware of potentially significant issues with insurance adjustmentsrelating to disaster assistance in 2004 and 2005" since 2010, saysthe report.

The report found the federal government paid $4.4 billion inassistance for the seven hurricanes in Florida over those twoyears. Katrina was responsible for less than 5% of payouts, whileHurricane Wilma was the costliest at $1.5 billion. Auditors lookedat $177.2 million that FEMA approved for 2,088 projects deemed"high risk," says The Hill.

Given the amount of time since the claims were filed, it isunclear whether FEMA can recover the funds.

Read more from Jesse Byrnes at The HillHERE.