BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Louisiana residents could see an increase in their flood insurance bills.

The average cost for flood insurance is $958 per year, $80 a month, but the amount you pay depends on where you live. 80% of the people in Louisiana will experience a price increase. Nearly 500,000 policies will be affected. The insurance increase is to take effect this Friday, April 1st.

Flood insurance is required by the government if you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area. There’s also the fact that homeowners insurance will potentially not protect your home. Elected leaders in southeast Louisiana are demanding to stop the federal increase in flood insurance premiums.

“Louisiana can be affected terribly, can be affected terribly,” said Senator Bill Cassidy. “We’re working however we can to stop it.”

He also discusses how it’s not just a little this year, but how over time the number will continue to increase.

“Some folks are going to notice it right away, others will say, ‘Ok, it’s a little bit up but everything is up.’ But it’s that second, third, fourth, and fifth year that it just becomes unaffordable for many families,” said Sen. Cassidy.

A dramatic increase in policies is expected under the new risk rating 2.0. With better technology, insurance companies say that the risk rating they are measuring the individual characteristics of each home. The new program measures the distance from water, construction type of home, whether it’s a newer model home or older, and the cost to rebuild the home if damaged. Prior to the risk rating, insurance companies said that the rates were set by where the home was laid out on the map.

Policies are expected under the new risk plan to be as high as $100 a month for homeowners to pay on top of their bills.

A homeowner from Livingston Parish, Jeffrey Pollard, says he knows many in the area have flood insurance. However, he’s concerned for those individuals paying the full bill.

“It’s unfortunate, you know, a lot of people are going to be negatively affected,” said Pollard.

The Risk Reduction 2.0 program is scheduled to go into effect Friday unless delayed.