800 city properties in floodplain

Deadline looms to appeal new map, save money on flood insurance

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

More than 800 properties in Frederick were recently identified as being located in a floodplain, and their owners have until Feb. 22 to appeal the designation, or six months to take advantage of cheaper flood insurance rates.

The ‘‘remapping” of the floodplain is part of a $12 million national effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to update its paper maps to digital flood maps. The last maps were drawn in 1978.

FEMA created the new floodplain lines in the city and city staff fine-tuned the information to identify individual property owners. FEMA creates floodmaps for flood insurance and flood management, according to Marty Frengs of FEMA’s Philadelphia office. Maps will be finalized by the end of August, but Frengs said that FEMA will continue to review appeals and changes to the map.

A fee may apply for FEMA to review appeals made after the Feb. 22 deadline

Flood insurance can double the cost of typical homeowners insurance, Frengs said. The cost depends on the age of the house, whether or not it has a basement and several other factors.

‘‘A general rule of thumb is that flood insurance is roughly as expensive as homeowner’s insurance. Some will get it for less, and others will pay more,” Frengs said.

Anyone with property in the floodplain who has a federally backed mortgage must buy flood insurance. Frengs warns property owners to make sure they get at least 80 percent of the value of their home insured through flood insurance. Some homeowners, he said, do not buy enough coverage and pay steep deductibles.

‘‘We saw it after Hurricane Isabelle. People were not insured up to the value of their structure,” he said.

If a home or property does not have a mortgage, owners are not obliged to buy flood insurance, but if they sell the property, new owners will have to purchase the insurance.

Purchasing the insurance before the maps go into effect in August can save the property owner money because the premiums are based on the property’s status before the new map was created, Frengs said.

FEMA issued a public notice in November and affected property owners have 90 days to review the map changes and make an appeal to the City of Frederick’s engineering department to revise the map. Letters were sent to owners on Dec. 20. The city has received about 25 calls from concerned residents, according to Matt Bowman, Geographic Information Systems specialist.

Before the flood maps were redrawn, the city listed about 200 properties in the floodplain. The new maps, according to Paul Lee, director of engineering, are more accurate.

‘‘It was a lot more archaic before. You had to shrink or enlarge maps and try to superimpose them on tax maps of the city,” he said.

Are you in the floodplain?

To see if your property is listed on the City of Frederick’s new floodplain map, go to www.cityoffrederick.com. A copy of the map is on display in the lobby of City Hall, 101 N. Court St.

For more information on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and flood insurance, go to www.fema.gov.