Of Michigan’s 83 Counties, 59 will have re-drawn flood maps but right now only 22 have been completed. Here’s an interesting State statistic for Michiganders. For the years 1978 through 2009, $284.4 million dollars left the State in flood insurance premiums. In that same time, $45 million came back in the form of claims payments. Not a very good return for us as a State.
A few basics. Federal flood insurance covers only the structure, not personal possessions. Additional flood insurance policies are available through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and your homeowner’s insurance carrier for personal items, but that coverage is also quite limited or quite expensive. Rates are better if your municipality participates in the NFIP. As of 9/28/2011 there were no Livingston County listings, but Augusta and Ann Arbor Townships and the City of Ann Arbor were listed for Washtenaw County.
There’s a lot of talk about the 100 year flood, too. That doesn’t mean what some folks think it means, which is often that the area will flood once every 100 years. It actually represents about a one percent (1%) chance of a flood in any given year.
If your property is in a flood zone, you have to pay for flood insurance. Period. However, with the re-drawing of flood maps (still in progress for much of the nation – and parts of our State), some areas may not have been mapped properly and there could be properties that qualify for exemption. A Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) will be needed, and this is definitely not something you want to do yourself. Your ability to acquire a LOMA will depend largely on the lowest point of your home’s exterior, and the best way to determine this to FEMA’s satisfaction is to have a surveyor come up with the elevation.
A surveyor experienced with flood insurance is your best bet. If they are certified to electronically file a Letter of Map Amendment (e-LOMA), this can be done in a very short period of time, a matter of weeks. This immediate help is available to properties in flood areas designated AE, or A1 through A30, because the base elevations of the area are known and an e-LOMA can be filed. If you’re in an ‘A’ designated flood area, it will take longer and require a physical package of documentation to be sent in to FEMA.
In some cases, a homeowner that is successful in getting a LOMA approved may be eligible for at least part of their flood insurance premiums paid for the last year or two. There are also other ways to get a LOMA approved, especially if your home is built on a crawlspace. This process is called a Letter of Map Revision-fill (or LOMR-f). Usually, you must have a landscaper install a clay berm around the low point of the house, it has to be 95% compacted, then covered with fill and landscaping. By changing the lowest adjacent grade (LAG) and installing flood vents in the foundation, a LOMR-f may successfully get you out of flood insurance.
The cost of this service which includes surveying and documentation submittal can run $600-$800, but at least one SE Michigan company will consult with you and only accept the full fee if they are able to help. That’s better than what many homeowners are paying every year for flood insurance. I’m happy to pass that info along to anybody that may need it, feel free to contact me via facebook, or phone.
photo credit: think4photop / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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