[goneil2024]

Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) are developed and published by FEMA, they show where the expected flood zones are at the time the map was developed/published. Municipalities are given the opportunity to develop flood mitigation plans that if adopted can make Federally subsidized flood insurance available to property owners in that community. There is a wealth of information about current flood zones available on the FEMA website, as well as digital maps, and where to obtain coverage. Also, a tool for you to simply enter your street address and find out what flood zone a property is in.

According to the Federal Flood act federally guaranteed loans where the property is situated in the 100-year flood zone must obtain some form or flood insurance. Unfortunately, most of us stop there, and if we are not required to purchase coverage we often do not. However, as we have seen in recent decades severe weather events often cause flooding well beyond the 100-year flood zones.

The reality is that every property is in a flood zone, and there are many levels [A, B, C, X, X-, V] and given constant development, changing weather patterns, shifts in hydrology and other factors many properties may be exposed to a higher risk of flooding than they realize.

What is the solution? No silver bullets I fear, - - however, since the federal act was passed in 1968, National Flood Insurance has been available in participating communities. If it’s available and affordable it’s worth checking out, self-insurance (planned retention of the peril(s) of flood) might only be for those who have the financial ability to sustain the loss (few if any individual homeowners have this ability) so a last resort is avoid owning property in high risk areas, …………. After that there are no simple options so, identify, quantify, evaluate and act or take no actionion.