Recovery Assistance & Mitigation Planning

Recovery Planner Jennifer Gerbasi

 

It is always a good time to get flood insurance

Thursday March 08, 2018 09:12 am

It is always a good time to get flood insurance

Terrebonne Parish is often under a threat from a natural or manmade flood event, and as community leaders, homeowners and business owners, we need to be prepared.  Flood insurance is part of that preparation.  Before saying “but this property is not in a flood zone,” think for a minute about friends and family members who flooded, but didn’t have insurance for that same reason.  Structures outside the flood zone flood, too, and can generally obtain a policy for under $500 per year.  For some it will be very expensive, but one has to consider how expensive the flood damage has been and that it may open the door for a 100% grant for elevation. 

Some structures, even outside the flood zone, are Severe Repetitive Loss properties, and may be eligible to compete for a 100% grant for elevation or demolition/reconstruction of the structure.  Other repetitively flooded structures may be eligible for 90% of the total project cost.

BUT – THE STRUCTURE NEEDS TO BE INSURED 180 DAYS PRIOR TO THE GRANT PERIOD OPENING!

For those properties that are Severe Repetitive Loss or Repetitive Loss properties, there are funding opportunities most years through the National Flood Insurance Program.  The FMA Grant Program is focused on mitigating repetitive loss (RL) properties and severe repetitive loss (SRL) properties.  Since the funding comes from the National Flood Insurance Program premiums, not only does the structure need to be covered by insurance after it is lifted (forever regardless of ownership) but a current policy has to be in place for 180 days prior to the grant application opening date.

FEMA has not announced when that grant will be available for 2018, but if your property is an SRL or RL, please get flood insurance AND contact the Recovery Assistance and Mitigation Planning Office at 985-873-6565 to get a letter of interest and start gathering information for an application.  All of these programs take time, and it could be years before complete, but one has to START!

The SRL group consists of any NFIP-insured residential property that has met at least 1 of the following paid flood loss criteria since 1978, regardless of ownership:

••4 or more separate claim payments of more than $5,000 each (including building and contents payments); or

•• 2 or more separate claim payments (building payments only) where the total of the payments exceeds the current value of the property.

In either case, 2 of the claim payments must have occurred within 10 years of each other. Multiple losses at the same location within 10 days of each other are counted as 1 loss, with the payment amounts added together.

If the grant application is successful, the program will pay 100% of the elevation total project cost up to $333K.

Repetitive Loss (RL) property for the purposes of the grant program is a property that has incurred flood-related damage on two occasions, in which the cost of the repair, on the average, equaled or exceeded 25% of the market value of the structure at the time of each such flood event – over 50% damaged in 2 events.

If the grant application is successful, the program will pay 90% of the elevation total project cost for a repetitive loss property up to $333K.

The time to prepare is now.  Get flood insurance, and get up!

985-873-6565

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