Here are a couple of interesting Wiki articles on the topic
They describe the history and why private insurers abandoned the market.
It will be interesting to see if FEMA runs into the same problems as the private insurers as premiums are raised.
Flood insurance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apparently a little over half of the people with Flood insurance are in Florida and Texas.
National Flood Insurance Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a study from the Institute of Policy Integrity
http://policyintegrity.org/documents...gtheMarket.pdf