Dan's Papers -November 21, 2008 - Estate of Mind - Deep Water: FEMA Rejiggers Flood Map

Just when it seemed things couldn't get worse (well, not exactly), there's more bad news for some beleaguered property owners who live in the depreciating asset we call home. As most East Hamptonites brace themselves for increased property taxes to contribute to the town's haggard economy, about 150 additional residents of East Hampton Village and Sagaponack will have to shell it out for flood insurance as a result of new flood hazard maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The new maps, known as DFIRMs (Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps) show areas prone to flooding during storms, changes in drainage patterns and other topographic details..

Based on the new mapping, (the first in 20 years) 15% fewer buildings (about 4,488 structures total) in all of Suffolk have actually been removed from the list of properties in flood zones. Those lucky homeowners may no longer be required to drop the dime on flood insurance, or depending on the change, may be able to pay lower premiums. Almost 500 homes were removed from the flood zone in the Town of Southampton (from 3,579 to 3,104), and about 100 the Town of East Hampton (from 1,632 to 1,512). But in the Villages of Sagaponack and East Hampton, the number of homes in the flood plain more than doubled - from 46 to 119 properties in Sagaponack, and from 60 to 146 in East Hampton Village.

The maps, exhaustive information on flood insurance, engineers and insurance specialists from FEMA were available at a four-hour public meeting last Thursday at the Southampton Cultural Center. Upon entering, you were given a sheet of paper by a welcoming receptionist, who wrote in the address you were investigating. From there, you could meet with a FEMA rep at one of the four "Property Flood Risk ID Stations" at the front, to better understand changes in your designation. If desired, you could then meet with a specialist from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

I sat with FEMA Senior Engineer Paul Weberg, asking him why new properties were added to the flood maps. "Because of the latest and greatest technology," he said. "The new mapping showed that these areas were lower than what had been shown. The digital maps are accurate to plus/minus six inches."

The new mapping, which will take effect in December, 2009, shows a newly redefined floodplain that outlines specific areas as having high, moderate or low flood risk. A floodplain is defined as a typically dry area where water will pool or flow through during a 100-year storm. The term 100-year storm simply means that the area has a 1% chance of a major storm happening on any given year. According to Weberg, the Hurricane of '38 would be in that storm category.

So what is a homeowner to do if he or she is now in a flood zone? If you have or plan to get a mortgage from a federally backed lender, you are required to have flood insurance. (There's a chance that if those who will be affected lock in rates now, they might be able to avoid higher premiums, at least in the short term. This is definitely a "call your insurance broker" issue.)

Currently in Suffolk, flood insurance from the NFIP is guaranteed up to $250,000. Premiums vary from about $388 for the lowest risk designation to thousands in the highest risk areas. There are umbrella policies available with $250,000 deductibles (meaning you need a NFIP policy for the first $250,000) and additional insurance available above $250K from underwriters like Lloyds of London.

The formal presentation in Southampton, co-sponsored by FEMA, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and Suffolk County Fire Rescue Emergency Services, will now be followed by a 90-day comment period (from Nov. 14, 2008 to Feb. 11, 2009). During this time, homeowners can comment, contest and complain - as well as file appeals - on their new rating. According to Weberg, "If homeowners think something is wrong with the FEMA map, they can present that to us. It's always due process." He added that, because of the extensive work done and state of the art technology used, "the chances are pretty slim" that a property would be reclassified based on an appeal. In the meantime, those interested in where their house falls in the flood plain can go to suffolknyfloodmaps.com. Plug in your address, and you'll get information, including whether or not you need additional insurance.

Of course, most of the homes added to the list are right on or close to the Atlantic, so one must wonder if a few extra thousand dollars of insurance would matter much to property owners in the estate section. Weborg wondered the same, and he verified a final fact: If you have no mortgage on the property or paid cash for that manse on the beach, you are not required to get a penny of flood insurance. Homeowners who took the chance that their multi-million dollar investments would stand against a raging storm probably weren't relying on that $250K of flood insurance to help them sleep at night on a bed that's a few hundred feet from the ocean. And, after all the research he has reviewed for FEMA and his own scientific expertise, Weberg added, "If money was no object, that's where I'd live. Right on Dune Road."