April 2022 Flood Map Updates: Surry County, Virginia

Risk Rating 2.0 is a new tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to determine whether communities are at risk from flooding.

This tool uses a combination of data sources to identify areas where flooding is likely to occur and the same data will also be the basis for your premium rate.

One of the biggest things that this new rating system won't take into account when it comes to premium rates is flood zones. However, it is still important to be aware of new flood maps updates as this represents both where flooding can happen and where flood insurance is required.

Surry County

Surry County, Virginia has a long history of flooding. The county is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the Virginia-North Carolina border. The county is home to the Great Dismal Swamp, which is a large wetland that is prone to flooding. The area has also been hit by several hurricanes over the years, which have caused significant flooding.

In recent years, Surry County has been hit by two major floods: one in 2003 and one in 2016. Both of these floods caused significant damage to homes and businesses in the county.

This type of history with flooding is only bound to expect to see major flood map changes. Today, we want to talk about the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly changes coming to flood maps of Surry County, Virginia this April 6th, 2022.

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 31 property owners impacted by this movement in Surry 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 293 properties in Surry County, Virginia. 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 968 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 Surry 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 Virginia, flood mitigation, or anything related to flood insurance, click below to go to our Flood Learning Center:

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