A lot of things are changing with the federal side of flood protection as the new Risk Rating 2.0 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Today, we want to talk about something that's always been changing in the flood insurance industry and how these flood insurance rate maps will impact your flood insurance.

Ryegate, Montana: Golden Valley County Flood Map Updates

Flood Zones in Risk Rating 2.0

In our current time, a lot of things are changing and will continue to change. One of the things that are long overdue and was in dire need of an update, if not overhaul, was the federal flood insurance. In the legacy program or the NFIP 1.0, there are significant things that are supposed to be addressed when it comes to flood risks and the system falls flat on its face when it comes to these.

It's well-known that the legacy did its part in protecting people from flood loss and devastating flood damage, but the thing is flood insurance — like any other insurance policy — are cautious proactive means. Protecting the insured was never reactive when it comes to very uncontrollable and volatile situations like a flood event, and this is something that the Risk Rating 2.0 greatly improves on.

The new Risk Rating 2.0 program addresses flood insurance based on the unique flood risks your property is facing. This means that they will look at flood risk variables such as elevation, frequency of flooding, construction, claims history, and replacement costs, to name a few, in understanding your property's flood risk and thus flood insurance premium.

This is what we call "your fingerprint of flood risk" since every house or building will have a unique risk rating score with the new flood insurance program.

READ: NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 Update

It's important to keep in mind that Risk Rating 2.0 will only look at flood zones for regulatory purposes. This means flood insurance rate maps (FIRM) and the flood zone changes happening with it will only be used to determine whether or not a property is required to carry flood insurance or not.

We'll move past being concerned with your property's location when it comes to your flood insurance rates. Basically, the rating flood maps of old are out and the regulatory flood maps of Risk Rating 2.0 is the new standard.

Flood Insurance Guru | Delaware Flood Insurance: Milford NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 Update

Today, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly changes with the flood map updates to the Golden Valley County, Ryegate, and its respective communities that will start to take effect this November 5th, 2021. We want to focus on how many properties will be impacted by this new floodplain mapping, how many properties are moving into high-risk flood zones, how many are being removed from it, and how many are going deeper into the special flood hazard areas (SFHA).

Ryegate, Montana: Golden Valley County Flood Map Updates

The Good

The first flood zone movement we'll discuss is what's called an "in to out" movement.

In the NFIP legacy program, this change meant that these properties will get lower flood insurance rates due to the lower flood hazards that your property faces. This also meant that you'll no longer be required by your mortgage or the government to carry flood insurance on your insured property. Since flood zones in the new Risk Rating 2.0 program will no longer impact your rates, this only means that you will no longer be required to carry flood insurance.

This movement will impact only 12 properties in Golden Valley County and Ryegate City. Generally, we call this a good change even before Risk Rating 2.0 came into the picture because this meant that the property is being removed from a high-risk flood zone and moved into a low-risk flood zone.

Is this good enough of a reason to NOT carry flood insurance?

At the surface, this may look like a good deal to no longer be required to carry flood insurance however at its core, not having flood insurance is generally a bad idea even if you're being moved to a low-risk area like Flood Zone X. This is because it's only a low-risk zone that you're moving in, not a no-risk flood zone. Simply put, you're still not exempted from being flooded even if your property sitting in a low-risk flood zone.

The Bad

Now, let's move to the bad changes coming with this new flood map update. FEMA calls this an "out to in" movement since the flood insurance rate map will take properties that are in the low-risk zones and place them into high-risk zones.

There are 115 property owners that will experience this movement in the upcoming floodplain map. This means that if you're impacted by this bad change, the regulatory standpoint of Risk Rating 2.0 when it comes to flood zones will kick in due. Property owners that are included in the out-to-in movement will now be required to carry flood insurance regardless if they insured residential properties or commercial ones.

High-risk areas like flood zone A or 100-year floodplain generally mean that the properties in this area will have a 26% chance of floodwater inundating during a 30-year mortgage. 

The Ugly

Lastly, we have the ugly changes coming to Golden Valley County and its cities like Ryegate City. The ugly change is something that FEMA calls an "in to in" movement. Generally, this indicates that the impacted properties are very likely to get inundated by any flood event. Unlike low-risk flood zones, these flood zones experience more devastating floods due to their proximity to a water source.

This is because this will impact properties that are already in the SFHA and will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. We could also say that this is like moving your insured property from a flood zone A to a flood zone AE.

About 80 properties are expected to experience this in-to-in movement on the flood maps. Just like the bad change or out to in, this also means that you will be required to carry a flood insurance policy for your property. This number may be due to the base flood depths getting worse due to multiple factors.

Now that we have covered the good, bad, ugly changes, and how this can impact your flood insurance purchase, let's talk about your flood insurance options in Ryegate, Montana.

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it.

When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Ryegate, Montana: Golden Valley County Flood Map Updates

There are also perks with your participating community in Sibley. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, the wait period for the private flood carriers will follow a much shorter timeframe compared to NFIP. A private flood insurance policy can take effect on 7 or up to 14 days maximum. 

Ryegate, Montana: Golden Valley County Flood Map Updates

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costsadditional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts.

This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Click the link below to access our Flood Learning Center where we try to answer your questions on flood insurance and beyond.

Flood Insurance Guru | Service | Knowledge Base

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

Buy Flood Insurance Now!

A month from the official launch of the new Risk Rating 2.0 program with FEMA and the NFIP, we equally want to focus on the upcoming changes to flood maps. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be changing the flood zones for multiple states starting this month and for this one, we want to cover the upcoming update to Sibley in Iowa's Osceola County.

Iowa Flood Insurance: Sibley Flood Map Updates

Flood Zones in Risk Rating 2.0

Out with the old, in with the new federal flood insurance program with Risk Rating 2.0 and this means that we're past the legacy program which looks at flood zones as a determining factor for your flood insurance rate or flood insurance premium. However, it's still crucial to understand why the Risk Rating 2.0 from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will impact the flood insurance studies and the industry itself.

You can learn more about Risk Rating 2.0 by visiting our blog covering it.

READ: NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 Update

It's important to keep in mind that Risk Rating 2.0 will only look at flood zones for regulatory purposes. This means flood insurance rate maps (FIRM) and the flood zone changes happening with it will only be used to determine whether or not a property is required to carry flood insurance or not.

Basically, the rating flood maps of old are out and the regulatory flood maps of Risk Rating 2.0 is the new standard.

Today, we discuss today the good, the bad, and the ugly changes with the flood map updates to Osceola County that will start to take effect this November 5th, 2021. We want to focus on how many properties will be impacted by this new floodplain mapping, how many properties are moving into high-risk flood zones, how many are being removed from it, and how many are going deeper into the special flood hazard areas (SFHA).

The Good

Starting with the good changes with this flood map update. We say that this is a good change because a property impacted by this will be removed from the high-risk areas or SFHA. FEMA would call this the "in to out" movement.

When it comes to Osceola County in Iowa, about 106 properties will be moved into low-risk zones. This means that if you're one of these houses moving in to out, the insured building written on your flood insurance policy will be in the moderate-to-low-risk flood areas which are Flood Zones B, Flood Zone C, and the famous Flood Zone X.

Since Risk Rating 2.0 only looks at these regulatory flood maps in order to understand the overall flood risk of a property, being in these low-risk flood areas will give you an option to not carry flood insurance to your property.

Despite this, we want to mention that low-risk doesn't mean zero risk. The risk for flooding in these areas is still very much possible although generally, the chance of flooding in these zones is very low. It's still best to carry flood insurance at all times in order to protect your property from any and all flood damage. According to FEMA, 25% of flood insurance claims come from these flood zones. Flood insurance also helps individuals start preparing by lowering their flood risk.

The Bad

Now, let's move to the bad changes coming with this new flood map update. FEMA calls this an "out to in" movement since the flood insurance rate map will take properties that are in the low-risk zones and place them into high-risk zones.

There are 2242 property owners that will experience this movement in the upcoming floodplain map. This means that if you're impacted by this bad change, the regulatory standpoint of Risk Rating 2.0 when it comes to flood zones will kick in due. Property owners that are included in the out-to-in movement will now be required to carry flood insurance regardless if they insured residential properties or commercial ones.

High-risk areas like flood zone A or 100-year floodplain generally mean that the properties in this area will have a 26% chance of flood water inundating during a 30-year mortgage. 

The Ugly

Lastly, we have the ugly changes coming to Osceola County and its cities like Sibley. The ugly change is something that FEMA calls an "in to in" movement. This is because this will impact properties that are already in the SFHA and will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. We could also say that this is like moving your insured property from a flood zone A to a flood zone AE.

About 106 property owners are expected to experience this in-to-in movement on the flood maps. Just like the bad change or out to in, this also means that you will be required to carry a flood insurance policy for your property.

Now that we have covered the good, bad, ugly changes, and how this can impact your flood insurance purchase, let's talk about your flood insurance options in Sibley, Iowa.

Iowa Flood Insurance: Sibley Flood Map Updates

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it.

When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

There are also perks with your participating community in Sibley. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

Iowa Flood Insurance: Sibley Flood Map Updates

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on 7 or up to 14 days maximum. 

Iowa Flood Insurance: Sibley Flood Map Updates

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Click the link below to access our Flood Learning Center where we try to answer your questions on flood insurance and beyond.

Flood Insurance Guru | Service | Knowledge Base

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

New call-to-action

A month from the official launch of the new Risk Rating 2.0 program with FEMA and the NFIP, we equally want to focus on the upcoming changes to flood maps.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be changing the flood zones for multiple states starting this month and for this one, we want to cover the upcoming update to Spencer City in Iowa's Clay County.

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

Flood Zones in Risk Rating 2.0

Out with the old, in with the new federal flood insurance program with Risk Rating 2.0 and this means that we're past the legacy program which looks at flood zones as a determining factor for your flood insurance rate or flood insurance premium. However, it's still crucial to understand why the Risk Rating 2.0 from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will impact the flood insurance studies and the industry itself.

READ: NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 Update

It's important to keep in mind that Risk Rating 2.0 will only look at flood zones for regulatory purposes. This means flood insurance rate maps (FIRM) and the flood zone changes happening with it will only be used to determine whether or not a property is required to carry flood insurance or not. Basically, the rating flood maps of old are out and the regulatory flood maps of Risk Rating 2.0 is the new standard.

Flood Insurance Guru | Delaware Flood Insurance: Milford NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 Update

Today, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly changes with the flood map updates to Clay County that will start to take effect this November 5th, 2021. We want to focus on how many properties will be impacted by this new floodplain mapping, how many properties are moving into high-risk flood zones, how many are being removed from it, and how many are going deeper into the special flood hazard areas (SFHA).

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

The Good

Starting with the good changes with this flood map update. We say that this is a good change because a property impacted by this will be removed from the high-risk areas or SFHA. FEMA would call this the "in to out" movement.

When it comes to Clay County in Iowa, about 661 properties will be moved into low-risk zones. This means that if you're one of these houses moving in to out, the insured building written on your flood insurance policy will be in the moderate-to-low-risk flood areas which are Flood Zones B, Flood Zone C, and the famous Flood Zone X.

Since Risk Rating 2.0 only looks at these regulatory flood maps in order to understand the overall flood risk of a property, being in these low-risk flood areas will give you an option to not carry flood insurance to your property.

Despite this, we want to mention that low-risk doesn't mean zero risk. The risk for flooding in these areas is still very much possible although generally, the chance of flooding in these zones is very low. It is still best to carry flood insurance at all times in order to protect your property from any and all flood damage. FEMA even mentioned that 25% of flood insurance claims come from these flood zones. Flood insurance also helps individuals start preparing by lowering their flood risk.

The Bad

Now, let's move to the bad changes coming with this new flood map update. FEMA calls this an "out to in" movement since the flood insurance rate map will take properties that are in the low-risk zones and place them into high-risk zones.

There are 767 property owners that will experience this movement in the upcoming floodplain map. This means that if you're impacted by this bad change, the regulatory standpoint of Risk Rating 2.0 when it comes to flood zones will kick in due. Property owners that are included in the out-to-in movement will now be required to carry flood insurance regardless if they insured residential properties or commercial ones.

High-risk areas like flood zone A or 100-year floodplain generally mean that the properties in this area will have a 26% chance of floodwater inundating during a 30-year mortgage. 

The Ugly

Lastly, we have the ugly changes coming to Clay County and its cities like Spencer City. The ugly change is something that FEMA calls an "in to in" movement. This is because this will impact properties that are already in the SFHA and will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. We could also say that this is like moving your insured property from a flood zone A to a flood zone AE.

Generally, this indicates that the impacted properties are very likely to get inundated by any flood event. Unlike low-risk flood zones, these flood zones experience more devastating flood due to their proximity to a water source.

About 3105 properties are expected to experience this in-to-in movement on the flood maps. Just like the bad change or out to in, this also means that you will be required to carry a flood insurance policy for your property. This number may be due to the base flood depths getting worse due to multiple factors.

Now that we have covered the good, bad, ugly changes, and how this can impact your flood insurance purchase, let's talk about your flood insurance options in Spencer City, Iowa.

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it.

When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

There are also perks with your participating community in Sibley. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on 7 or up to 14 days maximum. 

Spencer, Iowa: Clay County Flood Map Updates

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Click the link below to access our Flood Learning Center where we try to answer your questions on flood insurance and beyond.

Flood Insurance Guru | Service | Knowledge Base

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

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As the storms keep coming, the changes to federal flood insurance come with it as well. Today, we want to unpack the upcoming changes to Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) to one of the cities with a rich agricultural history, Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

We will understand the good, the bad, and the ugly changes coming to this town and what it means for flood insurance for its locals.

Saint Petersburg, Florida

When talking about the Sunshine State and floods, the first thing you might think about is how it has become a hotbed for storms and tornadoes due to its coastal nature. At the time of writing this blog, Florida is being devastated by floods due to severe storms moving in Southern areas of Florida.

Today, we want to unpack the upcoming flood map changes to Saint Petersburg (FL) and although zone designation Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) won't really impact your flood insurance rates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), it's important to always keep in mind that this will be used for a regulatory standpoint.

Generally, this still means that if you're in a high-risk flood zone, also known as the special flood hazard areas (SFHA), you're still expected to carry mandatory flood insurance for your property.

You can watch our video on Saint Petersburg flood insurance rate maps update below while reading:

So what are the upcoming changes to Saint Petersburg on August 24th, 2021?

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

The Good

When it comes to good changes with this new flood map update, we'll be talking about the movement of properties impacted in the city. The good change generally means that buildings and houses that will be getting the best deal out of the floodplain mapping that FEMA is producing.

To be more specific, about 8,216 property owners will have their properties move out of a high-risk flood zone and into the low-risk flood zones. This is what FEMA calls the "in to out" movement. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone X.

Low-risk flood zones are also known as the preferred flood zone or non-mandatory zones since this is where mortgage companies and the federal government would stop requiring homeowners to purchase flood insurance.

Yes, this means that 8,216 property owners can choose not to purchase flood insurance for their property however, fair warning to everyone, FEMA had constantly reported that 30% of the flood insurance claims come from these low-risk flood areas.

Simply put, this means that you're not really exempted from experiencing floods at all. We've covered this in our previous episode when we talked about the reasons why you might be flooded in a low-risk zone.

The Bad

Now, if there's good news, there's also bad news. This comes in the form of the opposite with the good movement that we're seeing which is what FEMA calls the "out to in" movement. This is generally because your property that wasn't in a high-risk zone or special flood hazard area (SFHA) will be moved into the SFHA and high-risk zones. Some would call this moving from Flood Zone X to Flood Zone A.

Only 4,164 properties will be impacted by this change in FEMA Flood Maps to Saint Petersburg. This is bad for a couple of reasons. One, since FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) runs through a lot of flood data, they are seeing that your property or the general area that it's in has received an increase in current flood risk as well future flood risk.

Another bad thing about this is that you will be required to start carrying a mandatory flood insurance purchase for your property because of the higher risks it's presenting. Let's be honest, being in a high-risk flood zone or the SFHA can be very expensive when it comes to flood insurance premiums in our current NFIP setup especially if you have a relatively bigger or more expensive property.

The Ugly

Lastly, we still have to discuss the biggest change and the ugliest among these three. The ugly change represents the "in to in" movement. This means that a property that's already in a high-risk flood zone will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. You can call this "moving from Flood Zone A to Flood Zone AE".

This will impact about 152,572 properties in Saint Petersburg which is a very huge number. In fact, we rarely see an "in to in" movement that comprises the biggest chunk within these three changes.

However, instead of worrying about a possible flood insurance rate increase (which will disappear by the time NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 kicks in), this simply means that when something like Tropical Storm Elsa happens again, you might face a bigger and more severe flood damage to your property.

Like the bad change, this also means that you have to carry a flood insurance policy on your property to make sure that it's protected at all times. This can also mean higher flood premiums in the current version of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for when you insure your property and since this will be a mandatory flood insurance purchase, you definitely have to prepare your wallet for it.

There are ways to make these bad and ugly changes easier to manage, however. This starts with your preferred flood insurance option: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or the Private Flood market. Let's talk more about these two.

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it. When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

The good thing about the NFIP and FEMA is that they won't really push you immediately to the waters. Instead, they will allow you to ease into the possible flood insurance rate changes you'll be getting with your new flood zone. This is what's called newly mapped rates where FEMA will have you pay a lower flood rate or premium on your first year after the flood map update. This is also known as the Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) and will slowly start to increase until you meet the actual flood insurance premium expected to be paid for in your new flood zone.

There are also perks with your participating community in Saint Petersburg. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

Florida Flood Insurance: St. Petersburg Flood Maps of August 2021

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on 7 or up to 14 days maximum. 

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Get a quote from the Flood Insurance Guru!

If you have questions on these new FEMA flood maps, maybe you want to determine your flood zone, knowing your area's average flood depths and flood data, or anything about flood, reach out to us by clicking below.

Get Your Flood Risk Score Here!

Contact Us

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

Buy Flood Insurance Now!

As the storms keep coming, the changes to federal flood insurance come with it as well. Today, we want to unpack the upcoming changes to Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) to one of the cities with a rich agricultural history, Hart, Michigan.

Michigan Flood Insurance: Hart Flood Map Updates for August 2021

We will understand the good, the bad, and the ugly changes coming to this town and what it means for flood insurance for its locals.

Hart, Michigan

One of the most resounding memory, when you talk about floods and Hart, was what happened in 2017 when the Tuolumne River rose and inundated most of the areas in the city. Just recently this year, we also saw flooding due to storms that also knocked down trees.

Today, we want to unpack the upcoming flood map changes to Hart (MI) and although zone designation Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) won't really impact your flood insurance rates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), it's important to always keep in mind that this will be used for a regulatory standpoint.

Generally, this still means that if you're in a high-risk flood zone, also known as the special flood hazard areas (SFHA), you're still expected to carry mandatory flood insurance for your property.

You can watch our video on Hart flood insurance rate maps update below while reading:

So what are the upcoming changes to Hart City on August 24th, 2021?

Michigan Flood Insurance: Hart Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The Good

When it comes to good changes with this new flood map update, we'll be talking about the movement of properties impacted in the city. The good change generally means that buildings and houses that will be getting the best deal out of the floodplain mapping that FEMA is producing.

To be more specific, about 28 property owners will have their properties move out of a high-risk flood zone and into the low-risk flood zones. This is what FEMA calls the "in to out" movement. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone X.

Low-risk flood zones are also known as the preferred flood zone or non-mandatory zones since this is where mortgage companies and the federal government would stop requiring homeowners to purchase flood insurance.

Yes, this means that 28 property owners can choose not to purchase flood insurance for their property however, fair warning to everyone, FEMA had constantly reported that 30% of the flood insurance claims come from these low-risk flood areas.

Simply put, this means that you're not really exempted from experiencing floods at all. We've covered this in our previous episode when we talked about the reasons why you might be flooded in a low-risk zone.

The Bad

Now, if there's good news, there's also bad news. This comes in the form of the opposite with the good movement that we're seeing which is what FEMA calls the "out to in" movement. This is generally because your property that wasn't in a high-risk zone or special flood hazard area (SFHA) will be moved into the SFHA and high-risk zones. Some would call this moving from Flood Zone X to Flood Zone A.

Only 289 properties will be impacted by this change in FEMA Flood Maps to Hart. This is bad for a couple of reasons. One, since FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) runs through a lot of flood data, they are seeing that your property or the general area that it's in has received an increase in current flood risk as well future flood risk.

Another bad thing about this is that you will be required to start carrying a mandatory flood insurance purchase for your property because of the higher risks it's presenting. Let's be honest, being in a high-risk flood zone or the SFHA can be very expensive when it comes to flood insurance premiums in our current NFIP setup especially if you have a relatively bigger or more expensive property.

The Ugly

Lastly, we still have to discuss the biggest change and the ugliest among these three. The ugly change represents the "in to in" movement. This means that a property that's already in a high-risk flood zone will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. You can call this "moving from Flood Zone A to Flood Zone AE".

This will impact about 1,813 properties in Hart which is a very huge number. In fact, we rarely see an "in to in" movement that comprises the biggest chunk within these three changes. However, instead of worrying about a possible flood insurance rate increase (which will disappear by the time NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 kicks in), this simply means that when something like Tropical Storm Elsa happens again, you might face a bigger and more severe flood damage to your property.

Like the bad change, this also means that you have to carry a flood insurance policy on your property to make sure that it's protected at all times. This can also mean higher flood premiums in the current version of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for when you insure your property and since this will be a mandatory flood insurance purchase, you definitely have to prepare your wallet for it.

There are ways to make these bad and ugly changes easier to manage, however. This starts with your preferred flood insurance option: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or the Private Flood market. Let's talk more about these two.

Michigan Flood Insurance: Hart Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it. When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Michigan Flood Insurance: Hart Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The good thing about the NFIP and FEMA is that they won't really push you immediately to the waters. Instead, they will allow you to ease into the possible flood insurance rate changes you'll be getting with your new flood zone. This is what's called newly mapped rates where FEMA will have you pay a lower flood rate or premium on your first year after the flood map update. This is also known as the Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) and will slowly start to increase until you meet the actual flood insurance premium expected to be paid for in your new flood zone.

There are also perks with your participating community in Hart. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

Michigan Flood Insurance: Hart Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on the same day or up to 14 days maximum. 

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Get a quote from the Flood Insurance Guru!

If you have questions on these new FEMA flood maps, maybe you want to determine your flood zone, knowing your area's average flood depths and flood data, or anything about flood, reach out to us by clicking below.

Get Your Flood Risk Score Here!

Contact Us

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

Buy Flood Insurance Now!

As the storms keep coming, the changes to federal flood insurance come with it as well. Today, we want to unpack the upcoming changes to Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) to one of the cities with a rich agricultural history, Modest, California.

California Flood Insurance: Modesto Flood Map Updates for August 2021

We will understand the good, the bad, and the ugly changes coming to this town and what it means for flood insurance for its locals.

Modesto, CA

One of the most resounding memory, when you talk about floods and Modesto, was what happened in 2017 when the Tuolumne River rose and inundated most of the areas in the city. Just recently this year, we also saw flooding due to storms that also knocked down trees.

Today, we want to unpack the upcoming flood map changes to Modesto (CA) and although zone designation Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) won't really impact your flood insurance rates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), it's important to always keep in mind that this will be used for a regulatory standpoint.

Generally, this still means that if you're in a high-risk flood zone, also known as the special flood hazard areas (SFHA), you're still expected to carry mandatory flood insurance for your property.

You can watch our video on Modesto flood insurance rate maps update below while reading:

So what are the upcoming changes to Modesto City on August 24th, 2021?

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

The Good

When it comes to good changes with this new flood map update, we'll be talking about the movement of properties impacted in the city. The good change generally means that buildings and houses that will be getting the best deal out of the floodplain mapping that FEMA is producing.

To be more specific, about 100 property owners will have their properties move out of a high-risk flood zone and into the low-risk flood zones. This is what FEMA calls the "in to out" movement. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone X.

Low-risk flood zones are also known as the preferred flood zone or non-mandatory zones since this is where mortgage companies and the federal government would stop requiring homeowners to purchase flood insurance.

Yes, this means that 100 property owners can choose not to purchase flood insurance for their property however, fair warning to everyone, FEMA had constantly reported that 30% of the flood insurance claims come from these low-risk flood areas.

Simply put, this means that you're not really exempted from experiencing floods at all. We've covered this in our previous episode when we talked about the reasons why you might be flooded in a low-risk zone.

The Bad

Now, if there's good news, there's also bad news. This comes in the form of the opposite with the good movement that we're seeing which is what FEMA calls the "out to in" movement. This is generally because your property that wasn't in a high-risk zone or special flood hazard area (SFHA) will be moved into the SFHA and high-risk zones. Some would call this moving from Flood Zone X to Flood Zone A.

Only 333 properties will be impacted by this change in FEMA Flood Maps to Modesto. This is bad for a couple of reasons. One, since FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) runs through a lot of flood data, they are seeing that your property or the general area that it's in has received an increase in current flood risk as well future flood risk.

Another bad thing about this is that you will be required to start carrying a mandatory flood insurance purchase for your property because of the higher risks it's presenting. Let's be honest, being in a high-risk flood zone or the SFHA can be very expensive when it comes to flood insurance premiums in our current NFIP setup especially if you have a relatively bigger or more expensive property.

The Ugly

Lastly, we still have to discuss the biggest change and the ugliest among these three. The ugly change represents the "in to in" movement. This means that a property that's already in a high-risk flood zone will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. You can call this "moving from Flood Zone A to Flood Zone AE".

This will impact about 2,357 properties in Modesto which is a very huge number. In fact, we rarely see an "in to in" movement that comprises the biggest chunk within these three changes. However, instead of worrying about a possible flood insurance rate increase (which will disappear by the time NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 kicks in), this simply means that when something like Tropical Storm Elsa happens again, you might face a bigger and more severe flood damage to your property.

Like the bad change, this also means that you have to carry a flood insurance policy on your property to make sure that it's protected at all times. This can also mean higher flood premiums in the current version of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for when you insure your property and since this will be a mandatory flood insurance purchase, you definitely have to prepare your wallet for it.

There are ways to make these bad and ugly changes easier to manage, however. This starts with your preferred flood insurance option: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or the Private Flood market. Let's talk more about these two.

California Flood Insurance: Modesto Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it. When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards.

Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

The good thing about the NFIP and FEMA is that they won't really push you immediately to the waters. Instead, they will allow you to ease into the possible flood insurance rate changes you'll be getting with your new flood zone. This is what's called newly mapped rates where FEMA will have you pay a lower flood rate or premium on your first year after the flood map update. This is also known as the Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) and will slowly start to increase until you meet the actual flood insurance premium expected to be paid for in your new flood zone.

There are also perks with your participating community in Modesto. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

California Flood Insurance: Modesto Flood Map Updates for August 2021

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on the same day or up to 14 days maximum. 

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Get a quote from the Flood Insurance Guru!

If you have questions on these new FEMA flood maps, maybe you want to determine your flood zone, knowing your area's average flood depths and flood data, or anything about flood, reach out to us by clicking below.

Get Your Flood Risk Score Here!

Contact Us

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

Buy Flood Insurance Now!

As the storms keep coming, the changes to federal flood insurance come with it as well. Today, we want to unpack the upcoming changes to Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) in Everybody's Home Town, Prescott, Arizona. We will understand the good, the bad, and the ugly changes coming to this town and what it means for flood insurance for its locals.

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

Prescott, AZ

Prescott is no stranger to flooding especially when we talk about more pluvial ones like flash flooding due to rainfall. Earlier this month, Yavapai County and the Prescott Valley faced heavy rainfall that immediately caused flooding to these two areas.

At the time of writing, multiple areas of Arizona like Phoenix and Prescott itself are under a flood watch warning due to the expected continuous rainfall from Hurricane Ida.

Today, we want to unpack the upcoming flood map changes to Prescott Arizona and although zone designation Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) won't really impact your flood insurance rates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), it's important to always keep in mind that this will be used for a regulatory standpoint.

Generally, this still means that if you're in a high-risk flood zone, also known as the special flood hazard areas (SFHA), you're still expected to carry mandatory flood insurance for your property.

So what are the upcoming changes to Prescott City on August 24th, 2021?

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

The Good

When it comes to good changes with this new flood map update, we'll be talking about the movement of properties impacted in the city. The good change generally means that buildings and houses that will be getting the best deal out of the floodplain mapping that FEMA is producing.

To be more specific, about 107 property owners will have their properties move out of a high-risk flood zone and into the low-risk flood zones. This is what FEMA calls the "in to out" movement. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone X.

Low-risk flood zones are also known as the preferred flood zone or non-mandatory zones since this is where mortgage companies and the federal government would stop requiring homeowners to purchase flood insurance.

Yes, this means that 107 property owners can choose not to purchase flood insurance for their property however, fair warning to everyone, FEMA had constantly reported that 30% of the flood insurance claims come from these low-risk flood areas.

Simply put, this means that you're not really exempted from experiencing floods at all. We've covered this in our previous episode when we talked about the reasons why you might be flooded in a low-risk zone.

The Bad

Now, if there's good news, there's also bad news. This comes in the form of the opposite with the good movement that we're seeing which is what FEMA calls the "out to in" movement. This is generally because your property that wasn't in a high-risk zone or special flood hazard area (SFHA) will be moved into the SFHA and high-risk zones. Some would call this moving from Flood Zone X to Flood Zone A.

Only 11 properties will be impacted by this change in FEMA Flood Maps to Prescott. This is bad for a couple of reasons. One, since FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) runs through a lot of flood data, they are seeing that your property or the general area that it's in has received an increase in current flood risk as well future flood risk.

Another bad thing about this is that you will be required to start carrying a mandatory flood insurance purchase for your property because of the higher risks it's presenting. Let's be honest, being in a high-risk flood zone or the SFHA can be very expensive when it comes to flood insurance premiums in our current NFIP setup especially if you have a relatively bigger or more expensive property.

The Ugly

Lastly, we still have to discuss the biggest change and the ugliest among these three. The ugly change represents the "in to in" movement. This means that a property that's already in a high-risk flood zone will be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. You can call this "moving from Flood Zone A to Flood Zone AE".

This will impact about 2,899 properties in Prescott which is a very huge number. In fact, we rarely see an "in to in" movement that comprises the biggest chunk within these three changes. However, instead of worrying about a possible flood insurance rate increase (which will disappear by the time NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 kicks in), this simply means that when something like Tropical Storm Elsa happens again, you might face a bigger and more severe flood damage to your property.

Like the bad change, this also means that you have to carry a flood insurance policy on your property to make sure that it's protected at all times. This can also mean higher flood premiums in the current version of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for when you insure your property and since this will be a mandatory flood insurance purchase, you definitely have to prepare your wallet for it.

There are ways to make these bad and ugly changes easier to manage, however. This starts with your preferred flood insurance option: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or the Private Flood market. Let's talk more about these two.

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

The NFIP

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is purely managed by the federal government since this is FEMA's answer to flood insurance. An NFIP flood policy can get you flood coverage on both your dwelling and the contents within it. When we say dwelling, this simply pertains to either the residential property or commercial building that you're trying to insure with NFIP and FEMA; contents will be more about the personal property and items you have inside the insured building.

There is a coverage limit when it comes to federal flood policies. Flood damage to buildings will be covered to a maximum of $250,000 for residential policies and can only go up to $500,000 maximum if it's for a commercial property. Regardless of the type of property you have written, you can expect to get a $100,000 maximum contents coverage from an NFIP policy.

There's also what's called the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. This is a $30,000 additional coverage for your property in order to make sure that there are flood mitigation efforts made on the property according to the federal government's standards. Generally, this can include sandbagging your property, installing floodproofing walls, raising your lowest floor from the base flood elevation levels, and putting flood openings. The labor that goes into making these mitigation efforts happen will also be covered under the ICC.

Arizona Flood Insurance: Prescott Flood Map Updates for August 2021.

The good thing about the NFIP and FEMA is that they won't really push you immediately to the waters. Instead, they will allow you to ease into the possible flood insurance rate changes you'll be getting with your new flood zone. This is what's called newly mapped rates where FEMA will have you pay a lower flood rate or premium on your first year after the flood map update. This is also known as the Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) and will slowly start to increase until you meet the actual flood insurance premium expected to be paid for in your new flood zone.

There are also perks with your participating community in Prescott. A participating community gets access to federal flood insurance and disaster assistance, but more importantly, you also get to work with your community on raising your Community Rating System (CRS) score. The CRS measures and rewards the overall flood mitigation efforts done by the community according to FEMA's standards on floodplain management. Simply put, the higher your CRS score is, the bigger the flood insurance discount you'll get from FEMA and the NFIP.

You can start enjoying your NFIP policy after a 30-day waiting period from the flood insurance purchase.

The Private Flood

If the federal flood insurance option doesn't really work for you then you can manage this new floodplain mapping through the private flood insurance market. It's important to note that this market will solely be managed and provided by private insurance companies which generally means that the red tapes FEMA and NFIP has to go through won't be there.

The first thing you'll immediately see with the private flood market is that there are significantly shorter waiting periods for your flood policy. Once you have everything settled and paid for, a private flood insurance policy can take effect on the same day or up to 14 days maximum. 

Another good thing coming out of private flood insurance is that there are no coverage limits. This means that you won't really need to stress over how to get covered for a $500,000 home since it will be fully covered by your policy. This is the same with contents coverage and you'll also get additional coverages like replacement costs, additional living expenses, and loss of use.

Fair warning, it's a known issue in the private insurance market in general that they will do moratoriums when there are risks that are too high for their comforts. This simply means that they will either put a stop or take a break from providing flood insurance policies to a certain area that has higher risks. There's also a chance that you might not get to buy flood insurance from them once they decide to non-renew your policy.

At the end of the day, the choice of where you'll be getting flood insurance depends on you. What's really important is that you know your flood risks and have enough protection from all possible outcomes of a flood event such as flood loss and flood damage.

Get a quote from the Flood Insurance Guru!

If you have questions on these new FEMA flood maps, maybe you want to determine your flood zone, knowing your area's average flood depths and flood data, or anything about flood, reach out to us by clicking below.

Get Your Flood Risk Score Here!

Contact Us

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you understand flood risks, your flood insurance, and mitigating your property long-term. 

Buy Flood Insurance Now!

We have officially started the hurricane season and we should be gearing up to become even more prepared for the threat of flood. Hurricanes present a lot of reasons for flooding other than heavy rainfall, we also have to consider storm surge, runoff from spring, and the melted ice and snow from winter.

Today, we'll unpack the upcoming flood insurance rate map changes to Baltimore which will take effect on June 16th, 2021.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Baltimore, Maryland Flood Map Updates

History of Flood

Baltimore faced a lot of flooding throughout its course in history. We can even just look at recent years and see how much impact the hurricane season has on the city through floods.

In 2003, Hurricane Isabel caused $4.7 million in flood damages to Baltimore after five to ten inches of rain fell and up to six feet of storm tides ravaged Maryland. It also seemed that history repeated itself 2 years after, in 2006 Tropical Storm Ernesto caused the same flood event in the city. In 2008, Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall in South Carolina however also lingered most of the eye of the storm east of Baltimore. 

Even at the time of writing, a lot of places in Maryland and specifically Baltimore is currently flooded due to heavy rains. So, let's talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly changes that the new flood map updates will bring to Charm City itself.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Baltimore, Maryland Flood Map Updates

The Good

First, let's go over the good things coming to Baltimore and its residents. The good news is that 467 properties are going to be moved "out to in". This simply means that these property owners will be mapped out of the high-risk flood zones or the special flood hazard area (SFHA) and into the low-risk flood zones. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone X.

This also means that you're going to be moved from the mandatory flood zone to the non-mandatory flood zone or preferred flood zone. Flood insurance for properties in these zones won't be required by mortgage companies however it's important to note that this doesn't eliminate the risks for flooding. Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) notes that 30% of flood claims are from these low-risk zones, so better have your flood insurance always at the ready.

The Bad

Now, let's talk about the bad changes coming with that movement called "in to out". This will be the exact opposite of the good change meaning that properties will be moved from a low-risk flood zone to a high-risk flood zone or the SFHA. Some would call this moving to a Flood Zone A.

About 662 properties are expected to be mapped into these mandatory zones which means that if you're not carrying flood insurance for your property, you can expect your mortgage company to send you a letter to let you know that you're now required to have flood insurance for your home. Now, if you already have a policy, you can expect to get higher flood insurance premiums with this new flood zone you're in.

The Ugly

Lastly, we have the ugly changes with this new flood map for Baltimore. About 3900 properties will be experiencing the "in to in" movement. This means that you might already be in a high-risk zone or the SFHA and you're going to move deeper into higher-risk zones. This means that you might already be in Flood Zone A right now and you'll be moved into a Flood Zone AE.

Being in the SFHA and higher-risk flood zones can really hurt your chances of getting to private flood insurance since these carriers have an option to pick and choose who they provide insurance to. Most of the time, these high-risk zones are something that they avoid. This can also mean a drastic increase in premiums of up to 15%.

Now, let's talk about how you can prepare for these changes and what the best flood insurance option is for you.

Flood Insurance Options

When it comes to flood insurance options, it's important to note that it won't matter what loan type you have since you can choose to go through either of these options. We have federal flood insurance and private flood insurance. Let's go through each option and understand their differences.

The NFIP Option

Federal flood insurance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Now, it's important to note that you can access this flood insurance option only if you're in a participating community.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Baltimore, Maryland Flood Map Updates

The NFIP offers coverage for properties, buildings, or structures of $250,000. When it comes to property coverage, other properties that aren't listed as the main building will have to get a separate policy for those additional buildings. Contents and personal items will have a coverage of $100,000. It's important to note that these coverage amounts are maxed out to those numbers. The NFIP won't also provide additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use with their policy.

It's important to note for those who will experience the bad and ugly change that FEMA and the NFIP will have what's called newly mapped rates which help you ease into the new flood zone's premiums. If you're looking to buy flood insurance through FEMA, you may have to follow a strict 30-day waiting period before the policy can take effect on your property.

The Private Flood Option

On the other side of the fence, you may go through private insurance companies' flood policies also known as the private flood. Since this is provided by private insurers, you won't have to go through the red tapes that the federal flood insurance may have. Immediately, you can see this on the general waiting period for private flood insurance. The maximum waiting time for private flood is fifteen days this is considering that you're going to have to wait in the first place.

Private flood insurance also doesn't have any coverage limits to the amount they can cover for property and personal items. This means that you can go up to $10,000,000 for the property damage coverage if you'd want to and $1,000,000 on personal items. Now, it's important to note that this is relative to your property's construction which is why it's highly recommended that homeowners with expensive buildings go through the private flood.

Private flood insurance also provides additional coverages like additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use which really protects the way of life policyholder from the aftermath of flooding.

At the end of the day, it's important that we keep our guards up and especially when cities on the coasts like Baltimore can have a bigger flood threat due to storm runoff, spring thaw, and coastal flooding.

So, if you have any questions on flood map changes, flood insurance, or your flood risks, reach out to us. Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help protect the value of your property long term. Click the links below to watch our daily flood education videos on YouTube, call us, or get a quote from us so you can get started on your flood insurance purchase today.

The Flood Insurance Guru | 2054514294   The Flood Insurance Guru | Chris Greene | YouTube      Get Your Quote from Flood Insurance Guru

We're already going even deeper into the hurricane season as we go through the sunny days of Summer. It's important to note that when there's rain, there are floods, and when there is a flood, there are also flood map changes on that area.

Today, we'll unpack the upcoming flood insurance rate map changes to Burgaw. This will take effect on June 2nd, 2021 for Pender County.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Topsail Beach, North Carolina Flood Map Updates

History of Flood

North Carolina has had a long history of floods. More recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is looking to designated funds to acquire flood-prone properties in Pender County. A lot of these major flood incidents are due to the coastal flooding that the state faces and we've seen this happen in 1928 during Hurricane Okeechobee and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 to name a few.

So, let's talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly changes that the new flood map updates will bring to Burgaw and Pender County.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Topsail Beach, North Carolina Flood Map Updates

The Good

When talking about the good change, we are pointing at the flood map movement that's indicated as "in to out". This change will be coming to 5 properties in the entire Pender County.

Generally, this would mean that 5 properties will be moved out of a high-risk flood zone or the special flood hazard area (SFHA) to a low-risk flood zone.  Some people would call this moving from Flood Zone A to Flood Zone X.

The Bad

Now, if there are going to be good changes, there are also bad changes with this new flood map update. This bad change is the movement from "out to in" and something that about 914 properties will experience.

Out to in refers to properties that are in the low-risk zones moving to high-risk flood zones. This is a bad change because of what will happen after you're moved into the SFHA. This means that you're going to get an increase in your base flood insurance premium with FEMA and even the private market.

It's also expected that your mortgage company will now require you to carry flood insurance for your property when previously, it's something you generally don't think about.

The Ugly

Lastly, we want to talk about the ugly changes coming with this flood map update. This ugly change is when a property is moved "in to in" or being moved into a higher-risk flood zone. Generally, this may put you in Flood Zone AE when previously you're in Flood Zone A.

This change will come to about 1300 properties in Pender County. Such a movement will really cause a drastic increase in flood insurance premiums which can be up to 15%. This movement may also cause some private flood insurance carriers or providers to avoid writing a policy for you due to the flood zone being too high of a risk. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) may also require additional documents like photos and an elevation certificate with the mandatory flood insurance in order for your policy to take effect. 

Now, let's talk about how you can prepare for these changes and what the best flood insurance option is for you.

Flood Insurance Options

When it comes to flood insurance options, it's important to note that it won't matter what loan type you have since you can choose to go through either of these options. We have federal flood insurance and private flood insurance. Let's go through each option and understand their differences.

The NFIP Option

Federal flood insurance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Now, it's important to note that you can access this flood insurance option only if you're in a participating community.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Topsail Beach, North Carolina Flood Map Updates

The NFIP offers coverage for properties, buildings, or structures of $250,000. When it comes to property coverage, other properties that aren't listed as the main building will have to get a separate policy for those additional buildings. Contents and personal items will have a coverage of $100,000. It's important to note that these coverage amounts are maxed out to those numbers. The NFIP won't also provide additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use with their policy.

If you're looking to buy flood insurance through FEMA, you may have to follow a strict 30-day waiting period before the policy can take effect on your property.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Summer 2021: Topsail Beach, North Carolina Flood Map Updates

The Private Flood Option

On the other side of the fence, you may go through private insurance companies' flood policies also known as the private flood. Since this is provided by private insurers, you won't have to go through the red tapes that the federal flood insurance may have. Immediately, you can see this on the general waiting period for private flood insurance. The maximum waiting time for private flood is fifteen days this is considering that you're going to have to wait in the first place.

Private flood insurance also doesn't have any coverage limits to the amount they can cover for property and personal items. This means that you can go up to $10,000,000 for the property damage coverage if you'd want to and $1,000,000 on personal items. Now, it's important to note that this is relative to your property's construction which is why it's highly recommended that homeowners with expensive buildings go through the private flood.

Private flood insurance also provides additional coverages like additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use which really protects the way of life policyholder from the aftermath of flooding.

At the end of the day, it's important that we keep our guards up and especially when states like North Carolina can propose a bigger flood threat due to storm runoff, spring thaw, and coastal flooding.

So, if you have any questions on flood map changes, flood insurance, or your flood risks, reach out to us. Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help protect the value of your property long term. Click the links below to watch our daily flood education videos on YouTube, call us, or get a quote from us so you can get started on your flood insurance purchase today.

The Flood Insurance Guru | 2054514294   Get Your Quote from Flood Insurance Guru      The Flood Insurance Guru | Chris Greene | YouTube

 

As we approach the hurricane season deeper, we want to cover the upcoming flood map changes to Pottsville and Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. We'll unpack the good, the bad, and the ugly changes this can bring to locals and what it means to flood insurance in the future.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

These changes are expected to take effect next week on May 18th and will affect many residents across the county. It's important to note that this update will solely focus on Schuylkill Pennsylvania, so if you want to know more flood map updates, tune in with us as we cover a lot of these changes.

Flood map updates or technically Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) are a long process that involves collecting, analyzing, and understanding flood data across the United States. This can take a lot of time, so if you still haven't received an update on your community flood map, you can expect one in the future.

Pottsville and Flood

First, let's talk about the flooding in Pottsville and Pennsylvania in general in order to understand the risks of flooding in these areas. 

Now, it's important to remind ourselves that Pennsylvania has been subject to the worst flooding in modern times. We've seen this on how much damage the state received from the Flood of 1889. This flooding caused 20 million tons of water to ravage through Johnstown and this, unfortunately, took thousands of lives

There's also the St. Patrick's Day Flood of 1936 which caused $300 million in damages and took more than 100 lives in its wake. Due to the huge quantity of snowfall in Winter which was preserved by the low temperature which was then melted by the warm climate as the state starts the Spring season. 

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

You also have to consider the state's damages from different hurricanes and storms such as Diane in '55, Tropical Storm Agnes in '72, Eloise in '75. There's also the Second Great flood of 1977 that caused five dams to fail

In more recent times, there was the Hurricane Ivan flooding of 2004 that caused more than $264 million in property damage and 12 official deaths. Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 also brought an estimated more than $150,000 in damages from the event which caused a lot of properties to be demolished due to major damages. A year and a month after Lee came Superstorm Sandy in 2012 which caused an estimate of $75 billion in property damages and 181 deaths across the country.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

As you can see, Pennsylvania has had a long history of flooding which was caused by melting snow, heavy rainfall, and what seems to be a hotspot of storms as well. This can be something that we may experience in the future which is. If you look at last year (2020), Pottsville faced flash flooding due to rainfall. Protection from flood insurance is not an option at this point for locals, it's a must if you want to be safe from flood loss.

Let's talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly changes that the new flood map update will bring to Pottsville.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

The Good

When it comes to this flood map change coming on May 18th, we're seeing big numbers when it comes to how properties will be moved. This good change generally talks about the "in to out" movement. This is talking about properties moving out of the high-risk flood zones and into low-risk flood zones or preferred flood zones.

Around 2400 residents are going to experience this good change. This could mean that if you're previously in a high-risk zone where flood insurance might be required, you won't have to carry mandatory flood insurance.

Although it's still highly recommended to get flood insurance even if you're in these low-risk zones like flood zone X since there are multiple reasons why you can still be flooded. In the case of Pottsville, you really want to make sure you're protected especially with the consistent threat of flash floods across the city.

This also means that you won't have to deal with the expensive flood insurance rates that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will ask of you since being moved in to out generally provides a decrease on previous flood insurance premiums of about five to fifteen percent. If previously you're paying for maybe $1200 premium for your flood policy, this can go down to $1000.

The Bad

Now, when it comes to what we'd like to call bad changes, this is when properties are moving "out to in". This is the exact opposite of what's happening to the previous one since around 2200 properties are moving into these high-risk flood zones like Flood Zone A when previously they're in a low-risk flood zone.

This is what we consider bad changes since you're going to face a lot of things that you didn't worry about if you weren't carrying flood insurance with your property previously. Generally, mortgage companies will require you to carry flood insurance for your property in order to make sure that its value is protected and also because high-risk flood zones or special flood hazard areas (SFHA) are required to have flood insurance regardless.

It's important to note that you should get your flood insurance before your mortgage lender could force-place a policy on the property since this will cost you a lot of money, but not enough flood insurance.

Flood insurance rates for the SFHA or high-risk zones are also significantly higher than the preferred zones. This can mean that you're going to pay a $1500 to $2000 premium each year and this is something that 2200 property owners will face once this flood map change kicks in on May 18th.

The Ugly

Let's dive into one of the biggest numbers we're seeing in this new flood map change and what we'd like to call the ugly change. About 9200 are expected to be moved deeper in the SFHA. This generally means that homeowners will now be mapped into a higher-risk flood zone. Some would call this "moving from Flood Zone A to AE".

Now, most of the residents affected here are sure to have flood insurance with their properties however what might be very jarring to handle is the increase of flood insurance rates for these affected properties. This "in to in" movement means that flood premiums can go up to $3000 or maybe even $5000 depending on the construction of the property and its history of flood loss.

Other than having to carry mandatory flood insurance, the NFIP and other insurance carriers from the private market might require you to carry additional documents like photos and an elevation certificate for you to be able to even start buying flood insurance when you move into higher-risk zones.

Now, let's cover your flood insurance options and how you may be able to manage and fight these changes.

Flood Insurance Options

Considering how much movement Pottsville is getting when it comes to flood zone designation and the constant threat of flash flooding that may repeat from last year, it's important to understand how your flood insurance options can help you be protected from flood damage and eventually flood loss.

The NFIP

If you're in a participating community then you can easily get your flood insurance policy from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). It's important to preface this part that the NFIP will have to ask you to follow a 30-day waiting period before your policy can take effect on the listed property. So, you really need to be ahead of time when you're looking to get a policy from FEMA.

FloodSmart | Flood Preparation and What To Do After A FloodThe Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

The NFIP provides maximum coverage of $250,000 for property damage and $100,000 in contents or personal property coverage. You should take note of the maximum amount of coverage since this is the coverage limit of the NFIP when it comes to residential properties. If you're doing a commercial policy, the property or building coverage can go up to a maximum of $500,000. The NFIP doesn't provide additional coverage such as additional living expenses, replacement costs, or loss of use.

The good thing about the NFIP is that they'll provide what's called "Newly Mapped" rates. This is intended for those who are moving into a higher-risk area compared to their previous flood zone before the flood map update kicks in. This is a cost-saving option wherein for the first 12 months after this flood map update, you can pay for a lower-cost preferred risk policy (PRP). Your rates will go up no more than 18% each year until you reach the intended rate for the new flood zone of your property.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

The NFIP also allows homeowners to appeal their flood zone if they believe that they shouldn't be mapped into Flood Zone A or AE. This may be a very complex process since if you're planning to get the flood zone from this new map reverted to your previous zone, you're going to have to use an elevation certificate showing that your lowest adjacent grade or lowest floor is at least 4-feet above the base-flood elevation levels in Pottsville. After doing so, you may file for a letter of map change (LOMC) to appeal to the upcoming flood zone however this isn't certain that you'll win the appeal.

The Private Flood

If the NFIP option doesn't fit what you really need when it comes to flood insurance, you can always go through the private market also known as the private flood. Private flood insurance is provided by private insurance companies who aren't really bound by the guidelines and red tapes that FEMA usually has to go through. This is why the maximum waiting period to get a policy from private flood is only up to fifteen days.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

Private flood doesn't have any coverage limits, so you can go up to more than $500,000 on property or building coverage regardless of the type of building you're planning to list on the property. The same goes for coverage for contents as it can be more than $100,000. Private flood also provides extra coverage in form of additional living expenses, replacement costs, and loss of use.

The private market generally provides lower rates and annual premiums for clients compared to federal flood insurance. This is regardless of the flood zone you're in, so even if you're in the SFHA and you're mapped into Flood Zone AE, you're still going to get much cheaper rates compared to what FEMA can offer.

The Flood Insurance Guru | Flood Map Updates | Spring 2021: Pottsville, PA Flood Map Updates

Note, private flood isn't required to provide insurance to everyone, unlike FEMA who takes all the risks when doing flood insurance. Since these policies are provided by private insurance companies, they can pick and choose what risks they're going to take and whom they provide insurance to

At the end of the day, the choice of where you get your flood policy isn't concerning so long as you make sure that you're protected from flood damage especially since we're experiencing a lot of floodings and flash floods even before we got into the hurricane season. 

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you prepare when crap happens. So, if you have any questions on flood insurance or want to get a quote with us, you reach out to us using the links below. You can also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our daily flood education videos.

The Flood Insurance Guru | 2054514294  Get Your Quote from Flood Insurance Guru     The Flood Insurance Guru | Chris Greene | YouTube