FEMA Forcing Southern California Homeowners to Buy Flood Insurance
Posted in Home Insurance
January 7th, 2010
As FEMA continues to update its flood maps nationwide, it seems that some Southern California residents will now be affected.
According to recent reports, tens of thousands of residents in the area will be forced to purchase flood insurance because their areas are now viewed as risky.
FEMA’s Informing Homeowners
According to the Associated Press, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has informed homeowners in over 150 cities and unincorporated areas in Southern California that they must now purchase flood insurance since their homes are located in the new map’s flood zones. This could be a problem for many who had no idea of the new flood map or that they would be required to suddenly add a new insurance bill to their budgets.
Costs for the Flood Insurance Premiums
On average, flood insurance premiums can run anywhere from $500 to $1,700 a year. According to the report, some property owners have already started paying their flood insurance premiums. Others are expected to have to start early in 2010.
But everyone isn’t just accepting the new flood insurance requirements. Many have discovered that floods are not covered in standard homeowners insurance policies and therefore must be purchased separately. It’s for this reason that some homeowners in the area have reportedly started fighting the map designations to exclude themselves purchasing coverage.
If you’re a homeowner living in California, have you been requested to buy flood insurance for your home?
FEMA pay’s the insurance industry $ .71 cents of every dollar in premiums it collects. One Congressman called the NFIP “the worse federal program he has ever seenâ€.The NFIP has paid out only $11.6 billion dollars in claims since 1978.The NFIP owes the US Treasury 20 billion dollar.FEMA has been unwilling to correct bad data used in new flood maps. The NFIP puts the burden on the tax payers to correct bad data used for this new insurance maps.Let’s stop this waste.Let’s help balance the budget. Let’s cut this wasteful federal program.Tell your Congressman and Senators not to fund the NFIP.Stop the National Flood Insurance Program.
Fighting the new flood map?You may be entitled to Reimbursement of certain expenses; appropriation authorization US Code from Cornell University http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=flood&url=/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00004104—-000-.html TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 50 > SUBCHAPTER III > § 4104§ 4104. Flood elevation determinations (f) Reimbursement of certain expenses; appropriation authorization When, incident to any appeal under subsection (b) or (c) of this section, the owner or lessee of real property or the community, as the case may be, incurs expense in connection with the services of surveyors, engineers, or similar services, but not including legal services, in the effecting of an appeal which is successful in whole or part, the Director shall reimburse such individual or community to an extent measured by the ratio of the successful portion of the appeal as compared to the entire appeal and applying such ratio to the reasonable value of all such services, but no reimbursement shall be made by the Director in respect to any fee or expense payment, the payment of which was agreed to be contingent upon the result of the appeal. There is authorized to be appropriated for purposes of implementing this subsection, not to exceed $250,000.