Flood Zoning question...

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm in Flood zone X--but we are pursuing flood insurance anyway. We live close to sure..and I'm baffled by the designation if this is a good one....but one super powerful Cat 5 storm surge...and I wonder if it would matter any. It's a 10 minute walk...and a 30 second to 1 minute drive to shore..if I could drive that far. We also have condos on the shore..wonder if that "helps" my situation.

Any insight on zoning for floods would be appreciated.

We are getting the insurance regardless.

 

[ca859093]

I am not sure exactly how they figure flood zones, but we just got a quote for $298./ year $300,000. for dwelling and $200,000. for contents. $1000. deductible.
It sounds like we sit about the same from you but on the gulf side.We are in a low risk flood area, but if we had even a cat 3 storm we would probably be under water.

 

[bsnyder]

Lisa, I think it's not only dependent on distance from the water, but on elevation as well. Florida's flat, yes, but that's relative. There are still variations in the elevation.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Very interesting--just watched WWL and they had an insurance rep on the phone answering questions...and the thing that caught my ear...is that their are flood victims in Katrina who were explicitly told that they are not in a flood risk area...and their homes flooded anyway.

His response is that it is such a large scale tragedy--that the insurance industry will have to make some wiggle room for cases such as that...b/c there are some who didn't get the insurance b/c of this now deemed "bad" advice.

bet--we are several feet above sea level...you do have to take steps down into the beach area...we become even more above sea level when the waves produced by a hurricane wash out the shore line .

In any case--the cost is minimal for peace of mind.

 

[bsnyder]

Very interesting--just watched WWL and they had an insurance rep on the phone answering questions...and the thing that caught my ear...is that their are flood victims in Katrina who were explicitly told that they are not in a flood risk area...and their homes flooded anyway.

His response is that it is such a large scale tragedy--that the insurance industry will have to make some wiggle room for cases such as that...b/c there are some who didn't get the insurance b/c of this now deemed "bad" advice.

bet--we are several feet above sea level...you do have to take steps down into the beach area...we become even more above sea level when the waves produced by a hurricane wash out the shore line .

In any case--the cost is minimal for peace of mind.

I'm not arguing that you not get it, Lisa. I'm the ultimate "be prepared Boy Scout" in my family.

That's distressing, to hear about the unexpected flooding....that was what I was wondering in my other thread about this, and I'm thinking it probably happened in MS and AL too. I worry about it here - we have people in the south Tampa peninsula that aren't in a flood zone, but yet, when officials talk about "the big one" hitting, I hear scenarios of the entire peninsula being under water.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

bet, wasn't thinking you were--that just happened to be on and I was sharing

I don't know where those locations are though. He didn't specify.

 

[RitaZ.]

That's distressing, to hear about the unexpected flooding....that was what I was wondering in my other thread about this, and I'm thinking it probably happened in MS and AL too. I worry about it here - we have people in the south Tampa peninsula that aren't in a flood zone, but yet, when officials talk about "the big one" hitting, I hear scenarios of the entire peninsula being under water.

Actually, it happened in South Miami-Dade county as well. Several homes had flooding, not to the extent that they have in LA, but about 6 inches of water inside their homes. Several families were told that they weren't required to have flood insurance. So, some didn't buy the insurance and others did just in case. There was one family shown on television trying to clean up the mess in their home. You could see them sweeping feces, their septic tank probably flooded. Sadly, they had no flood insurance. Another family that was told they didn't need it, bought it anyway. Their home was flooded as well, but at least they were covered.

My brother lives in South Miami, which has no drainage system. When they have heavy rains, his neighborhood is prone to flooding. During Katrina, my brother's garage was flooded with about 4 inches of water. Fortunately, the house is higher than the garage.

I think it's a good idea to have flood insurance even if you don't "need" it. We aren't close to the ocean, but to the Everglades. Our policy costs about $340 a year. I think it's money well spent, just in case.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

well I just spoke with somoene at my church---evidently someone ran models of what a storm surge would do to my island...well....let's just say it ain't required--but it is a GOOD idea just in case the big one knocks on our doorsteps!

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Lisa, you can check storm surge here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/atlas.html

It's a good idea to have Flood Insurance because what if a storm sits over us for a while and dumps a lot of rain? Storm surge is not the real flooding issue.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Miss Jasmine--red is not a pretty color (ETA: at least in terms of catasrophe).

Thanks for the link!

WE have no drains in our community---I do wonder how far up our water went for Frances. We drain pretty well for no drains...but torrential downpours, we get serious ponding.

 

[LisaR]

Did you see the local WOFL 10pm news last night They were showing what could happen if a Cat. 5 hit the space coast area. They expected a 17 foot storm surge in Melbourne with major damage for those beachside and some of the barrier islands. They didn't expect anything past the barrier islands in terms of flooding which is good for us since we live just the other side of that. Their focus was on Titusville which is expected to have major flooding in much of the area. I believe they said they would have up to 9 feet of standing water. I was really surprised that Titusville would have that much flooding.

Lisa

 

[aero99]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the this discussion. It caused me to pull up the flooding maps for my area. They only go up to cat 4 (supposedly our area is not condusive for a cat 5), but they did go up to a 16' water surge. Looks like my husband was right, we would not be flooded. However where I work will be under water due to a cat 1.

Melissa