What’s all the Fuss about Flood Insurance?

Just this week the Boston Globe had a front page article about the re-drawing of our national flood maps.  Several weeks ago there was a business section front page article about the impact of the new flood insurance requirements on businesses and homeowners and condominium associations.

So what’s Going On?

• After a decade of extremely high losses due to record storm activity FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Administration) had all the flood maps re-drawn to reflect more recent storm data.

• The new maps are just being released and updated now.  As a result of this re-mapping, many homeowners are discovering that their property is considered to be in a flood zone when it was not in the past.  And homeowners who were in flood zones could now be in higher risk zones than before, this makes most of them eager to find a sump pump alarm for their property.

• Additionally it was decided that that federal government would no longer subsidize the cost of flood insurance for homeowners causing their existing flood insurance costs to skyrocket, they’d have to find a disaster restoration company on their own.

• Only provisional costs have been released and it will be a year before exact costs for flood insurance can be determined and even that the homeowner may have to provide an engineer’s map called a site elevation map to get the proper pricing.

This is a very complicated issue with more questions than there are answers.  If you are in a condominium reach out to your Management Company or Trustee to make sure that your Master Insurance Policy is up to date in regards to Flood Insurance.

“New federal maps for Boston significantly expand the number of homes and businesses in areas considered at high risk of flooding, a change that could force thousands of property owners to purchase expensive insurance and complicate redevelopment along the city’s waterfront. If you are ever confronted by a flood in your home, don’t worry, all you have to do is contact this flood restoration service for their great help.

The proposed maps, released Friday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, could more than double the number of residences considered in danger of flooding to about 18,000 from 8,000. The number of businesses affected would also balloon from 250 located primarily along the city’s wharfs to nearly 4,000 stretching as far inland as downtown Boston and encompassing much of the new development along the South Boston Waterfront.” – Boston Globe

Content courtesy of Amy Tierce, Regional Vice, President Fairway Independent Mortgage