Flood Barrier USA

How to Save Money on Flood Insurance

Author: Donna Conneely

Flood risks in any given area can change over the years. Homes and businesses that historically have not required flood insurance can suddenly be designated as being inside a flood-prone zone. The property owners then have to scramble to find flood coverage on their insurance policies, which can come as quite a financial shock.

This year, thousands of properties have been added to the list of homes and businesses that require flood insurance. Many property owners are struggling with this new requirement, and are wondering where the money will come from to pay the premiums.

Flood insurance is mandatory if you live in a high-risk area and have a mortgage from a federally regulated or insured lender.

Click to learn more about NFIP insurance for your building.

Flood insurance is usually purchased through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a federally funded program. This program makes available insurance to many homes and businesses that would otherwise be uninsurable. But the premiums are not cheap, and in tough economic times the sudden added expense may be untenable.

Luckily, there are ways to reduce flood insurance premiums, although these measures may also come with a substantial price tag. In the long run, however, reducing the cost of insurance premiums will more than make up for the initial outlay for flood risk reduction infrastructure. After the recent super-storms that destroyed so much of the eastern seaboard, many businesses are now installing flood panels and other mitigation measures to prevent a recurrence of the nightmare clean-ups of late 2012.

When planning flood protection for a property, the single most important consideration is to build in a location that has natural flood protection characteristics. These characteristics may include elevation, natural berms and well-established run-offs. However, in the case of a property that is already built, remedial measures may be needed.

Click here to use NFIP’s One-Step Flood Risk Profile tool and learn how your business can be protected.

Remedial measures generally involve flood barriers of some kind. It may be that an earthen berm can be put into place to direct water to a causeway. Or flood panels may be installed that will pop into place at the crucial moment to protect the building.

Another way to save money on flood insurance is called “grandfathering”. FEMA recommends that any homes and businesses that are newly being added to a flood zone should immediately buy flood insurance, before being required to do so. In this case, the property will be “grandfathered in” at the old rate, instead of coming in with much higher premiums. It is vitally important to ensure that there are no lapses in the policy, or the new, higher rates will take effect.

Although it may seem onerous to be required to pay for flood insurance, especially if one has never before suffered that expense, this requirement is necessary to protect the larger society from disastrous expense in the event of a severe flooding event. It also encourages property owners in flood-prone areas to mitigate risks and to create a safer community for all.

March 18th, 2013 | Posted in Flood Protection | No Comments »

New Flood Map Causes Anger and Despair

Author: Donna Conneely

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and other recent storms, residents and business owners across the country have been struggling with long-term devastation, lengthy power outages, massive clean-ups, and the outright loss of property and possessions. Now, four months after Sandy, a new challenge has been added to the list of woes: a new, revised flood map.

Click to view FEMA’s Flood Mapping Progress Report and Production Plan

Suddenly, thousands of properties that have never before required flood insurance are being designated as a flood risk — located inside newly-designated flood zones. This means that the property owners must scramble to find and buy flood insurance, which will be required in order to continue using the property for residential or business purposes.

Generally, when changes to the flood map are proposed, the new designation does not go into effect for six months to a year. This period gives property owners time to make changes that can affect flood insurance rates. Flood barriers, berms, ditches and causeways are all effective at mitigating flood risk, and these measures — if properly implemented — can result in significant savings on the now-mandatory flood insurance.

The cost of flood insurance varies greatly according to risk and location within the flood zone. If a property is barely inside the risk area, or if the risk has been greatly mitigated by flood panels or other flood protection actions, the insurance may be as little as $600 per year. Properties within a high-risk area, with no flood protection adjustments, may be slammed with rates of $6000 per year or more.

Click image to visit the FEMA Map Services web page in a floating window.

Although it may seem harsh to saddle beleaguered property owners with extra costs even as they struggle to recover from a major disaster, it is deemed necessary to protect the larger society from the burden of paying for loss of property inside flood zones. Floods are by far the most expensive of all natural disasters, and it is necessary that those living within flood zones take steps to alleviate risk and to put into place flood protection devices and practices.

The new flood maps include many properties that have have no history of flooding, and this is causing a lot of anger and despair among some property owners. The maps are drawn by studying extremely accurate topographical data, which determines which areas could flood, even if they have not flooded in the past. It is also possible that flood risk may have changed in a given area due to surrounding land having been re-shaped for new development and/or general land use changes.

Flood zones are designated on a federal basis, and the required insurance is also managed by federal agencies. Unfortunately, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is chronically underfunded, and is forever on the verge of being held up as Congress approves its operating budget — a process that is often obstructed by partisan politics. Now that thousands of new properties are added to the list of homes and businesses requiring mandatory flood insurance, it is more important than ever that the NFIP should receive priority funding and that partisan squabbling be put aside.

March 11th, 2013 | Posted in Flood Protection | No Comments »

Critically Important Infrastructure Left Unprotected

Author: Donna Conneely

As the hard-hit states of New Jersey and New York continue to make progress on their efforts to recover from Hurricane Sandy, new information suggests almost criminal negligence and poor decision-making in the days leading up to the storm. There are many examples of critical infrastructure having been left unprotected, or stored in places almost guaranteed to flood.

Incredibly, the state of New Jersey placed most of its commuter trains in a low-lying area that did not have flood barriers. This equipment had been only recently purchased, at a cost to the taxpayers of almost $385 million. Nevertheless, it was placed in a low-elevation rail-yard in preparation for the storm, and the yard flooded badly, unimpeded by flood panels or any other type of protection. This decision was made in spite of the fact that pre-flood predictions indicated that the rail-yard would be submerged by 10 to 13 foot surges. One third of the fleet was badly damaged as a result of this inexplicable decision.

CCTV footage of flooding at Hoboken and Exchange Place. Video courtesy of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Many are questioning why vital equipment and facilities are being left unprotected in this era of ever-increasing storm activity. It is a fact that budgets are tight and there is little money for installation of flood protection devices, but the costs of repair and replacement of expensive equipment are considerably higher than prudent prevention measures, which will serve for many years into the future.

In addition to the newly-purchased commuter trains that were badly damaged, there are many more examples of critical infrastructure having been left unprotected. Many electrical substations are situated underground, beneath the streets. And yet, there were no flood panels in place to prevent the storm surge from roaring in!

Many substations were completely submerged, and were destroyed or badly damaged as a result. Due to the damage to these substations, many thousands of citizens were left without power for weeks.

When one thinks of New York, the City’s massive subway system almost immediately comes to mind. This system, with its many miles of underground tunnels and pedestrian entrances sprinkled throughout the metropolis, is extremely vulnerable to flooding. And yet, there is no integrated system of flood barriers in place to prevent floodwaters from rushing down the steps into the system.

Hurricane Sandy was a massive storm that would have caused major damage in even the best of scenarios. But more such storms loom in the future, and it is extremely important that major cities in flood-prone areas invest in flood protection rather than simply repairing massive damage over and over again. In the coming years, the prevention of repeated flood damage is absolutely mandatory.

February 19th, 2013 | Posted in Flood Protection | No Comments »