For decades, residents who live in Lancaster County's most flood-prone areas, such as Marietta and near Chiques Creek in Manheim Borough and Penn Township, have withstood rising waters and been able to stay in their homes because of federal flood insurance.

Between 1978 and the end of July of this year, 381 residents in those two areas filed damage claims and were paid nearly $3 million, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Those figures will undoubtedly climb once claims from the devastating flooding from September's Tropical Storm Lee are tallied. Countywide, more than 3,000 county residents filed for some form of FEMA assistance.

Though not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, federal flood insurance has been more affordable for most of the residents in these two areas because they live in older homes or operate businesses that predate the creation of the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968.

The premiums of homeowners grandfathered into the program have been subsidized by the government. They pay less than most people, typically paying 40 percent to 45 percent of the full cost of the insurance.

But that won't last much longer.

Congress is on the verge of radical reforms to the NFIP — virtually the only flood insurance in existence. That's because the program is reeling from a $18 billion debt from claims paid after Hurricane Katrina.

Though the two branches of Congress are haggling over details, both agree flood insurance subsidies should be phased out and owners of beachfront and older, flood-prone homes should be made to pay higher premiums and higher deductibles.

That could more than double premiums after subsidies are eliminated.

"The increases will be shocking," said Steven Faus, president of The Hess Agency, Manheim, which is an authorized NFIP agent and has about 50 policyholders in Marietta and the Manheim area.

The increase could be 15 percent to 20 percent per year for multiple years.

Faus worries that the phase-out of subsidized rates will hit local residents who can least afford it.

"No question, the premiums are already high, so it's a large part of many of those people's budgets. When you start talking 15 percent to 20 percent on some of these high premiums already, it's going to be unaffordable."

That weighs on the mind of Donna Collier, 65, who has lived in her 200-year-old Front Street home on Marietta's riverfront street since buying it at a bargain-basement price after Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

She paid $300 a year for federal flood insurance then. Now, it costs her more than $1,000. Since she and her husband, Reese, get by largely on his Social Security payment, the couple takes the least amount of coverage allowed.

During Susquehanna River flooding from Lee in September, water filled the basement and was 15 inches deep on the first floor, ruining a stove, kitchen cabinets, flooring, walls and insulation.

The Colliers have a pending claim with NFIP for $30,000.

The only other time they needed their insurance was in the 1996 flood, when they were paid $1,200 for a new water heater and furnace.

It makes her angry when she reads about expensive seashore homes being replaced with seeming regularity with her insurance dollars.

Still, she said she understands the need for the federal government to raise insurance rates.

"That's what insurance is — you're pooling your money with a lot of other people and you hope like crazy you're playing the odds right," she said. "But this has been an extraordinary year."

Marietta residents and officials are currently embroiled in a debate over delays in building a proposed levee system to partially protect the town from Susquehanna flooding.

Borough officials and the state Department of Environmental Protection, which recommended the levee, have said flood insurance rates could go down "dramatically" if it is built.

In Manheim, Delight Reidenbach and her husband had scraped together just enough money five years ago to buy a 1930s duplex fashioned from an old home on New Charlotte Street.

After signing the contract, they found out they were required to have federal flood insurance, even though the house is nearly a mile from Chiques Creek. It was almost a deal-breaker but they bit the bullet and forked over an extra $500 for the premium, which has since risen to $750.

It turned out to be a good thing.

Lee's floodwaters twisted the old home off its foundation. The house may have to be demolished.

Reidenbach and her family of four are staying with relatives until they learn if their claim for $127,200 is approved.

"Somebody was looking out for me," she said, thankful she has flood insurance.

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Unhappy with paying out unsustainable amounts of disaster aid for flood damage, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program. It now provides almost all the flood insurance in the United States.

About 21,000 communities participate and agree to enforce flood-plain ordinances. Pennsylvania is one of the most flood-prone states in the country because of flash flooding.

Anyone can buy federal flood insurance, but it is required for those in flood zones who use any kind of federal financing to buy or refinance a home or business.

Most building owners pay "full-risk" premium rates that sufficiently cover flood claims and administrative costs based on the likelihood of a building flooding.

But more than 1 million policyholders — about one fifth of all policyholders — are subsidized by the government.

When the program was launched, officials believed communities that were built before their flood risk was documented would not participate in the program if premiums were set at full value. Without that pool of money, the program would suffer.

Buildings in flood-prone areas that were built prior to 1974 were given reduced rates. It was assumed these homes and buildings would disappear over time.

And many are gone. But one-fifth of all policies are still subsidized, including many of the structures in Marietta's riverfront district and those within striking distance of Chiques Creek.

Penn Township is first in Lancaster County in both the number of federal flood policies and in the number of claims filed since the program began.

Marietta is second in the number of policies and fourth in the number of claims.

"Technically, their houses shouldn't be there, but how do you tell somebody that we're going to demolish your house because it continually floods," said Jim Thome of Thome Insurance Agency in Elizabethtown.

Lancaster city and Lancaster Township are tied for second in the number of claims, primarily for homes and businesses located near the Conestoga River. Manheim is fifth.

Congress over the last year has been hotly debating what to do with the NFIP. It continues to be renewed for short periods while reforms are discussed.

Last July, the House voted 329-90 to extend the program by $481 million, but with reforms. Rep. Joe Pitts, who represents Lancaster County, was one of the 90 voting against the bill, saying the restructuring didn't go far enough.

"Last year's attempt to reform the National Flood Insurance Program did contain some sensible reforms. However, it was not fiscally responsible," Pitts said of his vote.

"The NFIP owes more than $18 billion to the U.S. Treasury. A comprehensive reform would lay out a plan to repay this money and put the program on a solid financial footing. The NFIP should be an insurance plan, not an entitlement."

These reforms may not bode well for Florence Shank, an 84-year-old widow who has raised 10 children in her Front Street home in Marietta since she moved there in 1947.

She knows the Susquehanna River should be feared because a 21-year-old son drowned in it. But she didn't have flood insurance when Agnes hit in 1972 and water lapped at the 13th step on the stairway to the second floor.

She gets $900 a month in Social Security. Her flood insurance costs $1,043 and her homeowner's policy about the same. There are at least $1,000 deductibles on all flood policies.

A son who lives with her has started paying for the flood insurance.

A neighbor worries about Shank. The woman, who asked that her name not be used, dropped her own flood policy years ago when it reached $800 a year and was being raised every year.

"There are a lot of people like that," she said. "I couldn't understand it because people who are on fixed incomes, how could they afford to pay that?"

acrable@lnpnews.com