Flood insurance?

Seriously, some bozocrat (sorry Bozo) at FEMA said I need flood insurance. If my house gets water in it Florida will be Atlantis. Options?

Regular homeowners insurance won't cover floods, so you have to decide if you are willing to take the risk. If you need a mortgage most lenders won't make the loan if the house is in a flood zone without flood insurance. If your house floods and needs $50k in repairs to be livable, can you swing it? Without flood insurance it's all you. We looked at a house that would require flood insurance (not on the coast, because that is a totally different animal due to hurricanes) and the flood insurance was premium ($400) was approximately 1/3 of the regular homeowners insurance ($1200).

8 months into a refinance. Lived here 10 years. I have seen the flood gates open in La. and not gotten a drop near my welcome mat.TBTFargo sends me a notice. Livid.

Sounds like the boundary of the "100 year" flood has been changed, and now you're in it. If you have a mortgage, you may be required to carry flood insurance if you are inside the boundary. It does have a lot to do with bureaucracy, as if you lay the map over a topo sheet, the boundary will go back and forth across the contours. Also keep in mind that you can get flooded out due to a drainage blockage downstream or down the street. If a bunch of limbs block the drain in front of your house homeowners doesn't cover it, even if its not really a flood, any water in your house is only covered by flood insurance, unless it's a burst pipe or something.

Best option would be to have it already if you live close to the boundary or your property has been in the past. When these lines get redrawn the price jumps because now everyone has to have it and someone has decided that the risk is higher now. Unfortunately the only place that you can gt it is through FEMA, and they set the prices.

I love my country , but my gubment... never mind. Anyone heard of a surveyors exclusion? Fuggabuncha Emergency Managing A shiny happy people. Keystone Cops.

If your property is in a flood hazard zone on FEMA's map, you need flood insurance if you want to have a loan on the property. Federal law - lender has no discretion in the matter.

Don't want flood insurance? You have two options: A) don't have a loan, B) submit a Letter of Map Amendment to get the map changed. You don't need a surveyor or other professional to submit a LOMA, but it may strengthen your case.

Frequently worth an appeal and or fight. For it is not a open and shut matter.

Example #1, my place. I'm in the flood zone. But it's an old deed, so I'm grandfathered out. Has taken some reminding a time or two.

Example #2, my neighbors place. They also are in the flood zone. But, the ability of the waters to rise up to either of our houses, as per even FEMA, is impossible. Therefore they are able to petition for an exception, and have been successful repeatedly.

Consider though, if your place really can flood. And that just means water rising up. Even if it's from the rain falling down. Is it possible for damming of a creek or ditch to flood your place? Don't just think global warming and huricanes; thunderstorms and blown watermains or sewer lines can flood things nicely as well.

living close to the ocean most of my life.. flood insurance is a fact of life

mad_machine wrote: living close to the ocean most of my life.. flood insurance is a fact of life

I was just thinking I've lived close to the ocean for 44 years and never needed it.

I have. Once when my parents place got flooded to just under the floor.. this shorted out some wires that were left hanging under the brandnew kitch.. requiring a new dishwasher. This also killed all three of their cars.

I needed it when an apartment I was renting got flooded. Loved waking up to 40 degree seawater 4 inches deep on the floor.. especially when you are not quite awake and put your feet down on the floor before looking

If you are in the flood zone, your particular house maybe above the flood level. You need to get a vertical survey done, it will show the 100 year flood elevation in comparison to your house floor level. If your house is built up compared to the surrounding terrain you may be OK. My house was three inches too low, so I was required to carry flood insurance by the mortgage. I think the survey cost around $500.00 to have done.

I had my basement "flood" due to rainwater. (The storm sewer was blocked by leaves and fallen branches.) This was not an act of God for some reason, and was not covered. I was told I could get flood insurance to cover this ever happening again, but the wait list was a few years long and the premiums started at $1,800 per year.

In reply to mad_machine:

Not needed it, as in never owned a house in a flood zone. My old house, now a rental, is 27' above sea level and within 2 miles of the ocean. The 100 year flood zone surrounds it completely and comes to within 500 feet of the property. I had a big smile on my face when I checked the survey on it.

I remember somebody on here lost their whole house in the Nashville floods a few years ago, earlier on they wanted to buy flood insurance but their company didn't offer it and said there was no flood risk in the area -_-

My mother's home was flooded by Hurricane Floyd. Water up to the doorknobs. It was not pretty. She was not in a flood hazard zone and there was no apparent risk, but stufff happens.

Since then I've always carried flood insurance, in spite of the fact that I'm not in a hazard zone. It is called preferred risk coverage. It is relatively cheap - less than $1/day for maximum coverage.

Taxpayers wind up with the bill in the form of disaster assistance when uninsured homes are flooded. Then the property owner rebuilds in the same high-risk location.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to mad_machine: Not needed it, as in never owned a house in a flood zone. My old house, now a rental, is 27' above sea level and within 2 miles of the ocean. The 100 year flood zone surrounds it completely and comes to within 500 feet of the property. I had a big smile on my face when I checked the survey on it.

ah... when that happened to me.. we were 10 feet above Mean High Tide and less than three tenths of a mile from the beach.

My parents house was actually a little higher but they were less than a half a mile from the bay. Flooding is a way of life on a barrier island

FEMA flood insurance isn't available unless you are in a flood zone. It's cheap insurance and should you have a flood you'll wish you had it.

pinchvalve wrote: I had my basement "flood" due to rainwater. (The storm sewer was blocked by leaves and fallen branches.) This was not an act of God for some reason, and was not covered. I was told I could get flood insurance to cover this ever happening again, but the wait list was a few years long and the premiums started at $1,800 per year.

Easiest way to think of it is that if the water is rising, it's flood damage, and your standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover it. Doesn't matter why the water is rising. A little wiggle room, sometimes, for sewage backup or sump pump failure.

And you don't have to be in a flood plain to get flood insurance. It's available anywhere.

And you don't have to be in a flood plain to get flood insurance. It's available anywhere.

Commercial flood insurance and government backed FEMA flood insurance are too different beasts with completely different pricing schedules. If you can get FEMA's then you want it, the other is a judgement call.

carguy123 wrote: FEMA flood insurance isn't available unless you are in a flood zone. It's cheap insurance and should you have a flood you'll wish you had it.

i'm not, and i have it, i'm about an 1/8 mile from one of the bayous. since i'm not in the flood zone, its cheap, only like 150 bucks a year.

Strizzo wrote: Sounds like the boundary of the "100 year" flood has been changed, and now you're in it.

Pretty likely. Seems like around here they only bother to update their maps every 10 years or so, I would not be surprised if its a much longer interval everywhere else.

For development purposes, going by really outdated maps always seemed silly to me because in a lot of cases, they dont reflect at all how developent over the past however many years has affected the floodplains. Sometimes the changes are pretty drastic due to man made stormwater management, etc...

to the OP.

Punch in your address and view the floodplain map here and see what you are looking at. I am guessing the date on the map is pretty recent.

https://msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FemaWelcomeView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

you'll have to check with your state insurance commission, Trog

but a final option is you may be able to put up your own bond.

carguy123 wrote: Commercial flood insurance and government backed FEMA flood insurance are too different beasts with completely different pricing schedules.

Not sure what you're saying here. NFIP is the government underwriting for virtually all flood insurance in the United States, and covers the entire United States. It is distributed through many government agencies and private insurance companies. A whole lot of "private" flood insurance is actually a faux fluffing of governments NFIP coverage, where they charge you extra to be fluffed.

There are a few private insurance companies that do offer their own private flood insurance policies. Lloyds is a rather famous one. For a price, they will insure virtually anything against anything, as long as they can make money at it. I think Chubb offers it as well.

Our house just got flooded last September we did not have flood insurance because we were in flood plain b or the 500 year one. If it is even remotely possible that you could get flooded I would get it. We have it now lol. Ours is like 400 for the most coverage we could get for our house

Get the insurance!! A couple years ago my nephew got a notice from his mortgage company that he needed to get flood insurance based on the new maps.

He has a small stream on the back edge of his property which eventually drains into the Potomac River. But the river is a mile and a half away and at least 100 feet lower than his place. He had lived there for 15 years and the previous/original owner for 50 years with no flooding problems. Being that he was unemployed at the time I gave him the money to get the insurance. Good thing I did!!

Six months later they had a very heavy rainstorm. Which wouldn't have been a problem except that some idiot ran off the road at a little stone bridge 1/4 mile downstream from him. The car got washed down and stuck under the bridge. And he ended up with 3 feet of water in his basement.