April 2022 Flood Map Updates: Rice County, Minnesota

We're officially doing Risk Rating 2.0 across the board. In case you missed it, this new program for the NFIP will no longer look at flood zones as a basis for flood policies' premium rates.

However, flood zones still have a firm grip on how flood insurance functions and one of the things that will be staying. Despite not being a factor that impacts rates, flood zones still will still call shots on whether or not a property is required to carry flood insurance.

Let's talk about the flood map changes that recently came to Rice County in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Rice County Flood Maps

Minnesota's Rice County just got new flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order to reflect the county's current flood risk.

The state itself is no stranger to flooding, especially during this season as we transition from the cold snowy winter to the warmer blooming spring. As this presents increased flood risks, we look at how floodplain management regulations and flood maps react to this type of change.

Flood Map Updates

In this article, we'll look at the good, the bad, and the ugly changes coming to Rice County in Minnesota. Even though flood zones no longer matter rates-wise, it's important we still look at these to see to understand where flood insurance might be required for almost 2,600 properties that are affected.

The Good

When it comes to the good changes in flood map updates, this generally falls into the "in to out movement". It's called this way because a property that's in a high-risk flood zone will be moved out to a low-risk flood zone like Flood Zone X.

This is a good thing for only 12 property owners impacted by this movement in Rice County. This simply means that your property is being removed from the special flood hazard area (SFHA).

This also means that due to the lower risks, your mortgage company will no longer require you to carry flood insurance on your property.

Although we'd love to tell you to cancel that policy, get your refund, and save more money by removing flood insurance from your expenses, it's still a bad idea to not have flood insurance.

The Bad

Now, let's move into the bad changes which are coming in form of the aforementioned "out to in movement". This change is expected to impact about 17 properties in Rice County,  Minnesota. Think of it as getting mapped to a Flood Zone A when you were previously in a Flood Zone X.

Although this doesn't really impact premium rates directly, it's important to note that Flood Zone A generally means that the area doesn't have a base flood elevation.

Being part of this change can still hurt your premium rates regardless of whether you're doing a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy or a private flood insurance one.

Properties in Flood Zone A, SFHA, or any high-risk zone are also required to carry flood insurance always.

The Ugly

Lastly, we have the ugly change or "in to in movement" which covers the largest impact on this flood map update for the county. At least 377 properties will retain their flood zone. This means that if you're in Flood Zone AE, you will stay there until the next flood map update. Think of it as moving from a Flood Zone A to a Flood Zone AE. 

If you're staying in your flood zone this means that you will also retain the same flood insurance rates since your risks stay the same. On the other hand, if you fall into being moved deeper into the SFHA, which indicates that you're facing a higher risk for flooding, you will also see your premium rates increase significantly.

Now, let's talk about your flood insurance options in Rice County. Watch the video below to know the difference between the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Private Flood Insurance market.

Flood insurance is important now more than ever as we face higher risks for floods. You don't want to be blindsided by all that floodwater and find yourself in a lot of losses.

If you want to learn more about flood insurance in Minnesota, flood mitigation, or anything related to flood insurance, click below to go to our Flood Learning Center:

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