The Washington County Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM)
will become effective on March 19, 2013. This is an important time to look at your
flood insurance needs.
If your structure is in the
Special Flood Hazard Area for the first time (please see the earlier blog post
“Washington County - New Flood Map Effective March 2013” ) then you should get flood insurance well before the map change to benefit from
a more gradual change in insurance costs.
As a structure that is now in a
Zone X (outside the Special Flood Hazard Area) your structure will probably
qualify for the most favorable terms of a Preferred
Risk Policy. A Preferred Risk Policy
is intended to cover the structure and contents from damage from overland
flooding in areas that are not high risk areas.
The Preferred Risk Policy can be renewed on an annual basis
twice after the effective date for the new Washington County DFIRM. At the end of that period the actuarial rate
of flood insurance for the structure will be determined and the cost of
insurance will increase step-wise until the premium is at
full actuarial rates for the correct risk zone.
In 2012 the
Biggert-Waters Act made a number of changes to the National Flood Insurance
Program. Most of the changes are
intended to eliminate subsides so as to cover the actual operating costs of the
NFIP, and therefore flood insurance premiums are expected to increase. The implementation of the B-W12 legislation
is being phased in over the next few years.
During this period of map change there is still an
opportunity to take advantage of the Preferred Risk Policy and PRP
Extension. To secure the PRP it would
be best to have the insurance agent deposit the payment at least 30 days before
the effective date of the new map. Since
the date of the new map in Washington County is March 19, 2013 - a PRP policy
should be secured by early February.
Existing Letters of Map Change
If your home or site has a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) you should check on what the effect
of the new map will be. Most LOMAs will
continue to be valid; however other LOMAs will be affected by the new data and
will no longer be valid. Every
municipality in Washington County has been provided with a Summary of Map
Actions (SOMA) to identify how the new DFIRM will act on existing Letters of
Map Change.
Copies of LOMCs since 1997 are available online at the FEMA
Map Service Center.
If your structure is currently out- by-letter but will be
identified as in the Special Flood Hazard Area when maps become official in
March,you should take advantage of the PRP option, too.
Contact your community Zoning Administrator for more
information on the effect of the map, or, contact VT
DEC with your LOMC Case Id number or street address.
Do you need Flood
Insurance?
Perhaps, and it
may be critical. The Digital Flood Insurance
Rate Map provides key information about exposure of locations to damage from
inundation. However flooding and flooding-related
erosion damage occurs in many areas that are not well studied or mapped.
Your homeowner’s
insurance policy does not cover damage caused by the overland flow of water. Damage from this kind of impact is only
covered by flood insurance. Wet
basements impacted by groundwater levels can be carried as a special rider on
your homeowner’s policy. Ask your
insurance agent about these.
Aside from the
legal requirements regarding mortgages and flood insurance, flood damage can
and does occur more widely. Damage from
flooding can occur outside of the Special Flood Hazard Area when there are
larger floods than the size that is mapped. Overland flow can occur in Zone X for many
reasons including local watershed changes, storm water management problems, failure
of culverts, dams, ice jamming, and simple unstudied risk.
Over 500
structures in Washington County will no longer be mapped as in a Special Flood
Hazard Area after March 2013. Flood
insurance is still available to any structure in Washington County, however
structures located in a Zone X will benefit from lower available flood insurance
premiums. Confirm
the flood zone of your home on the new Washington County DFIRM and then contact
your insurance agent for more information.
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