Rhode Island’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse held a roundtable in Raleigh on Tuesday to address climate change, driving up insurance costs.
Speaking at the Walnut Creek Wetlands Center, Whitehouse joined U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross (NC-02), the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters and Partners for Environmental Justice to address concerns from local experts, community leaders and residents.
Whitehouse, who has served as the ranking member of the Committee on Environment and Public Works since January 2025, said his home state of Rhode Island faces some of the same environmental challenges as North Carolina. Rhode Island is subject to rain bursts — sudden amounts of precipitation in a short period of time — that can flood rivers and overwhelm sewage treatment facilities. The Ocean State also has rising sea levels, coastal storms, and erosion.
“Those are familiar topics to you here in North Carolina – upland river flooding from rain bursts and coastal erosion and storms tearing away at your coastal communities,” Whitehouse said.
Flooding, storm water, and storm control are familiar issues to Ross’s constituents in the second congressional district, she said, but they are less common in other parts of the state.
She referenced Hurricane Helene sweeping through western North Carolina last year and sending floodwaters through the mountainous terrain at an unprecedented level.
“It is a new [issue] to the North Carolina mountains and to many other areas in this country that are feeling the effects of climate change that have been spreading and worsening over time,” Ross said.
This raises costs for homeowners’ insurance, according to Whitehouse. He talked about insurance companies deeming properties too risky due to concerns with climate change, which then leads to increased rates for families.
A poll found that 92% of voters in Texas are worried about the costs of their home insurance rising due to severe weather like hurricanes and flooding, Whitehouse said, referencing a roundtable he held in Houston in August.
“This is actually everywhere, and it opens a new era of a climate conversation that will give us the political power to solve the problem before it gets devastatingly worse,” he said.
Dan Crawford, senior director of public affairs at the NCLCV, said North Carolina is on the front lines of this conversation. He said the state now has the third-highest rate of property insurance policy cancellations in the country.
In some coastal counties, more than one in 10 homeowners lost their coverage in 2023, he said.
“The message is clear: You can’t solve the insurance crisis without also addressing the climate crisis,” Crawford said. “Rising risk means rising cost, and unless we take action to make our communities more resilient and reduce the pollution driving these disasters, North Carolinians will continue to pay that price.”
State Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.
Community members at the roundtable shared stories of losing a business in Chapel Hill due to flooding and neighborhoods being destroyed from Tropical Storm Chantal in July.
Others expressed concerns over policy, especially with cuts to resources like the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Flood Insurance Program.
Whitehouse said the NFIP “isn’t sound or fair now” and needs restructuring. Improvements should include better mapping, allowing people to know when they’re really at risk, and options for people to be able to get assistance to relocate before they have to rebuild their homes, he said.
“The whole program is failing right now, and so a very significant redo is required, but transparency and consumer options are two of the key pieces to make it right,” he told NC Newsline.
This story was originally produced by NC Newsline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes Rhode Island Current, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
