FEMA offering flood insurance relief

Residents whose neighborhoods were re-categorized as high-risk flood zones by the Federal Emergency Management Agency this past year –- meaning they saw their flood insurance rates spike –– may get some fiscal relief.

At a Sept. 14 meeting of the South Merrick Community Civic Association, FEMA representatives discussed the new National Flood Insurance Program. U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Seaford, organized the meeting and sent a representative to it. A representative from U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's office also attended.

Flood map changes took effect in September 2009, after FEMA conducted a five-year map modernization program to determine which areas were most likely to be flooded in a hurricane or other storm.

"Based on the technical information that we use," said Mary Colvin, chief of flood plain management and flood insurance for FEMA, "we can estimate the areas that would be subject to a flood of a high magnitude when certain climactic conditions come together."

Under FEMA's new, recently announced flood insurance program, those who purchased a flood insurance policy either before the retooled maps took effect or after are eligible for a Preferred Risk Policy the first time that their current policy comes up for renewal after Jan. 1, 2011. The policy will remain in effect through December 2012.

Others eligible for a Preferred Risk Policy include owners of buildings that will be newly mapped into special flood hazard areas on or after Jan. 1, 2011.

A Preferred Risk Policy offers low-cost flood insurance to owners and tenants of eligible residential and non-residential buildings located in moderate-to-low-risk areas. It is the only policy that combines building and contents coverage.

A Preferred Risk Policy premium for a residential building and contents ranges from a low of $129 annually -- for $20,000 in building coverage and $8,000 in contents coverage -- to a high of $405 annually -- for the maximum $250,000 building and $100,000 contents coverage.

"Being included in the Preferred Risk Policy certainly helps," said Joe Baker, president of the South Merrick Community Civic Association. "I think people are certainly relieved at this point."