The Mississippi Insurance Department has asked a federal court in Gulfport, Miss. for an injunction to delay flood insurance rate hikes scheduled to go into effect Oct. 1.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says he filed the suit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency as administrator of the National Flood Insurance Program and Craig Fugate, FEMA administrator because the hikes "will affect millions of homeowners, not only in Mississippi, but across the country and are intended to repay the debt from catastrophes being carried by the NFIP and to make rates in the future actuarially sound."

"We've known for a long time that the flood program needed reform," he says. "We know the program is deeply in debt, but it seems grossly unfair to place that burden directly on homeowners who simply followed the rules and did what was asked of them."

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