It was very informative. EVERYONE on this list should find out more about this because it DEFINATELY affects many, many states, not just coastal states. About the only states without much affect are the states where the Rockies are located. I am dead serious and not exaggerating. All the flood maps have been redrawn and people who have NEVER, NEVER, EVER flooded are now in a flood zone according to the newest maps. I cannot answer questions about specific areas because I am not an expert at all. Consult your local officials about this.
ALL FLOOD INSURANCE is through the NFIP, national flood insurance program. I know the initials are right but it may be “premium” instead of “program.” No matter who sends you the bill it all comes from the NFIP. That is almost word for word from our parish president.
In my particular case, in the past we have not resided on a flood plane but had flood insurance anyway. Thinking that if a Katrina hit our area we would be taken care of. I am pretty sure that now we would be in a flood zone. We have changed nothing about our property (none for the worse, only improvements) and it has never flooded. Others across the country are finding the same thing. They have done nothing wrong and many have never had a claim and many have never flooded but now they are in a flood zone. Our insurance currently runs about $335/year, paid annually.
Accourding to the reports last night this will affect residential and commercial property just the same. There are families who are currently paying about what we are and in very smilar situations that could pay in the 10’s of $1000’s. No, I did not put too many zeros. There is Microtel within 30-40 minutes of us that currently pays about $6000/year in flood insurance and theirs will go to about $100,000/year if something is not done. For the examples they gave they used real addresses, showed pics of the house, the physical address, and real current flood insurance rates to compare to the potential future rates.
If rates go to what they project, it will end up causing an economic downturn like we have never seen in recent years. Why? When you’re in a flood plain and you have a mortgage, you are REQUIRED to have flood insurance. No flood insurance? Your mortgage is called. Many people will walk away from the rising rates, just turn the keys over to the bank. Banks will end up with alot of bank owned homes. No one will want to purchase homes with such outrageous flood insurance rates, no one will bea ble to sell them. This has a big domino affect on the whole economy of local communities. If houses don’t sell, the real estate industry bites the dust. Then all the industries that feed off that bite the dust and on down the line. Eventually the tax base of the whole community dwindles, services from the city/parish (county) dwindle, and so on.
All this got passed as part of the transportation bill last year. Louisiana reps are not the only ones caught off guard. There are reps in Florida , New York , New Jersey , California , etc. that are beginning to realize what is going on. There is a big coalition that is beginning to form between leaders (local community people/leaders up to members of congress) to begin to address this issue. I won’t bore you with more but do encourage you to attend any local community meetings about this to get informed on your community and the impact it’ll have.
I hope y’all will really look into this for your community. It is definately worth it. Much of what I shared came from that meeting last night. Some states are more affected than others but many more states than you can imagine are affected.
