Flood Insurance Rates Cut for Properties Affected By Remapping

Property owners fearing they may be forced to buy expensive flood insurance under a push to draw up new floodplain maps will catch a break by being offered the coverage at sharply lower rates for two years, according to a key lawmaker said.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to offer the cheaper rates on properties affected by changes to flood hazard maps dramatically softens the financial blow property owners in affected regions — at least for now.

FEMA has agreed to offer up to two years’ eligibility for the National Flood Insurance Program’s Preferred Risk Policy — the program’s lowest-cost option — to small businesses and homeowners on any land the new maps show are in newly designated special flood hazard areas. The new rates are available after the redrawn maps take effect, in many cases this fall or early next year.

The savings could be big: A yearly homeowner premium under the preferred risk program might be $300 — four to five times less than what it might cost otherwise, Les Sterman, an administrator of a flood-protection district involving three St. Louis-area Illinois counties, said.

Durbin, in a statement, cast FEMA’s decision as “only a temporary solution” ensuring that residents “will at least be financially protected at an affordable price in the event of a flood.” The long-term fix, he said, “is to bring the levees into a good state of repair.”

FEMA has been working on the map modernization for six years. The changes would force thousands of homeowners with federally backed mortgages to buy flood insurance.

Topics Flood