We've been here before. Only this time, we need to truly learnsomething from what is happening.

Hurricane Harvey has lashed the Lone Star State with a deadlytrifecta of heavy rains, high winds and, as if that wasn't enough,tornadoes. More than 30 inches of rain (9 trillion gallons ofwater, enough to fill the entire Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City— twice) has been dumped on the Greater Houston area andSoutheast Texas. Thus far, 30 people have perished.

It is a disaster of unprecedented magnitude, and at press time,it is still not over.

One friend I spoke with, Tony DeBenedetto, lives in Pearland, acity within the Greater Houston metro area. On the eve of Sunday,Aug. 27, as the storm still raged, he described the disaster to meas “Hurricane Ike and [Tropical Storm] Allison combined,” becausethey didn't just face powerful winds — they had tons of rain andflooding at the same time.

It reminded me of when Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast fiveyears ago, and how all I could think as the storm reached its peakand the winds howled outside — a sound I will never forget, as longas I live — was, thank God it's not raining.

“Allison was centered over the northwest Houston area,” herecalled. “So you had a very small amount of area drenched by allthose tropical rains, But now, it's covering several counties ofproperty, as far as San Antonio and Austin. And that's a good twoand-a-half, three-hour drive from here.”

Tony's family is sitting tight, riding it out. They have to; allof the surrounding highways are flooded with enough water to top atractor trailer. They're stuck now, as are all their neighbors, notevacuated before the waters rose. He was prepared, at least, moreso than most people would be in that situation, with food andwater, propane if the gas lines should fail, gasoline and agenerator. All they can do is dig in and wait and hope theirelectricity doesn't go out.

The day after we spoke, the power went out and he had to fire upthe generator.

Full cost yet to be determined

Only in weeks and months to come will the true scope of thedestruction be revealed, as the flood waters recede. Even the bestcat modelers aren't in agreement yet about whatthe estimated losses will be when all is said and done. No one willknow for weeks and months. And it will take far longer than thatfor the Houston area to get back to anything remotely resemblingnormalcy.

One thing, however, seems clear: The billions in losses incurredin Houston will surely rival or even exceed those of HurricaneKatrina.

Related: The 'Harvey List': Top 10 homeowners, commercialinsurers in Texas

The thing about unprecedented events is they have noprecedent. But that doesn't mean we don't know what's going tohappen next, for those who have learned from Katrina and Sandy:

• Once the roads clear and damages can be assessed, the need foradjusters will surely exceed the number of skilled professionalswho are up the task. Adjusters will be pulled in from nearby statesto help assess the damage — not all of them skilled.
• As sure as death draws flies, shady contractors will be on thelookout for desperate homeowners and property owners to prey upon.And many, many folks will be taken advantage of, as these crooksdemand payment up front for promised repairs that never happen —or, at best, are started and not finished.
• Thousands of homeowners will be furious when they learn thattheir policy doesn't cover their flood losses. And that'sthe worst part of all, for an industry that already faces its shareof reputational issues.

There's a very good reason why P&C insurers often aren'ttrusted by the general public, and this is a big part of it. Theindustry continues to fail in its responsibility to educate peopleabout the exposures from flood, what's covered by their policy, andwhat isn't. Within the industry, that's something that is, for themost part, understood; out in the real world, I can tell you thatit isn't.

Related: Texas Insurance Dept. encourages leniency forinsureds in Harvey's wake

Don't tell me that it's a conversation that doesn't need to behad, that the risk is so low, that your client doesn't live in anarea that could ever see a flood. The mindset around flood beingprimarily a coastal problem needs to change. The truth is this: Youmight not live in a primary flood area, but everyone lives in asecondary flood area. Everyone.

Elevating the conversation

That is where we reach a teaching moment. Harvey must change theconversation among agents and brokers and their clients aroundflood coverage. It's not a topic that can be put aside. It needs tohappen, with every single client.

Likewise, this disaster must also elevate the conversationaround the increased privatization of flood cover in this country.The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is some $26 billion indebt. Even if Harvey serves as a catalyst for its reauthorizationat the end of September (and that deadline is approaching prettyquickly, in a Congress more polarized than ever), the NFIP is not along-term, sustainable solution. It's a politically complicated,worst-case solution to a greater problem that is only going toaccelerate in years to come.

One of the provisions for Write-Your-Own insurers thatparticipate in the program is that they cannot create their owncoverage products around flood; they must use the standard form.They can administer the product on behalf of the NFIP, sure, butstandard-market insurers who are best positioned to assume theright risks for the proper price are prevented from doing so due tonon-compete clauses.

Ask yourself: How many Houston-level, unprecedented disastersneed to be suffered before we shift flood risks where they reallybelong, and how long can you wait to breach the topic of floodcoverage with your clients before the losses mount to levels aboveall of our heads?