John Oliver and a seagull explain why America's flood insurance program needs serious reworking

John Oliver tackles flood insurance
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Last Week Tonight)

"Floods were everywhere this summer — think of them as the 'Despacito' of natural disasters: persistent, ubiquitous, and absolutely no fault of the Puerto Rican government," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, trotting out some sobering statistics. According to FEMA, 90 percent of U.S. natural disasters involve a flood, "and floods are only going to get worse due to climate change," Oliver said. (For climate change doubters, he had some terse words.)

"But while floods are often referred to as natural disasters, the truth is, the damage they do is often, to some extent, within our control," he explained, "because we have made certain decisions that put and keep people and property in the path of flooding. And that is what this story is about."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.