WASHINGTON—An effort to delay federal flood insurance rate hikeson "grandfathered" properties for five years was rejected by theSenate late Tuesday.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., vowed to continue her battle to stopthe rate increases after the Senate rejected her efforts to have avote on a bill that would have amended a water resources billcurrently being considered by the Senate.

She was battling on behalf of constituents facing largeincreases in premiums levied under the National Flood InsuranceProgram.

A bill in 2012 to extended NFIP imposedcertain reforms and allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agencyto substantively increase fees over time as a means of bringingrevenues and expenditures in line. Currently, the program owes thefederal government $30.4 billion.

In a weekly newspaper in Plaquemines County, La., anarea insurance agent cited a home in Jesuit Bend, La., currentlypaying $633 annually for flood insurance will now have to pay$28,554 for the coverage, starting in 2014, under the 2012Biggert-Waters Act.

"In Plaquemines alone, we have approximately 5,000 buildingsoutside of 100-year protection," the agent, Bill Bubrig wrote."These 5,000 building were built at or above the NFIP requirementwhen constructed. Without grandfathering these properties/homeswill become too expensive to insure and impossible to sell."

Landrieu's amendment to delay the rate hikeswas rejected by an unanimous consent agreement by Sen.Patrick Toomey, R-Pa.

"This is an issue that isn't going to go away, and I'm notgiving up finding a solution to fix the flawed Biggert-Waters bill,which I expressed concerns about even before its passage," Landrieusaid.

In the coming days, Landrieu says she will "be introducing acomprehensive bill that will allow people in Louisiana and acrossthe country to live securely along water and be able to purchaseaffordable flood insurance." She says the NFIP should befinancially sound, but that "should not be done on the backs ofLouisiana's families living along our coast, many of whom get upbefore the sun rises and do not come back until it is dark.

"They deserve a vote, and they deserve a solution. I'm not donefighting to find one," Landrieu said.

Ray Lehmann, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, aWashington conservative think tank, says, "We are pleasedto see that a decade of hard work to achieve substantial reform ofthe NFIP won't be undone by a unanimous consent amendmentprocess to an unrelated bill."

As to the plight of residents of Plaquemines Parish, Lehmannsaid that the combination of grandfathering and FEMA's totalnegligence in keeping flood maps up to date has created theproblem.

"Opponents of flood reform are now throwing out these scaryfigures that a property 6 feet below the base flood elevation mighteventually be asked to pay $25,000 in premiums," Lehmann says. "Butthat ignores the obvious — a property six feet below should not beeligible for flood insurance! The rate increases are phased in toallow for the property to either be elevated or bought out andrelocated."