By now I am sure that most of you have heard that the new FEMA Flood maps have been published
and that Broad Channel has been removed from the "V" Flood and re-designated as an "AE" flood zone.
The good news is that this new "AE" flood zone designation has reduced our town's Base Flood Elevation (BFE) requirement from 15 to 10 feet.
You can use the ***New FEMA Flood Maps Are Out**** widget at the top right hand side of this page to ascertain your individual property BFE information by clicking on the FEMA logo and entering your address in the box where prompted.
The bad news is that this revised flood zone designation, although welcome, is no panacea for the burdensome and extraordinarily expensive flood insurance regulations and rate increases contained in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.
The Biggert-Waters Bill is a cancer that was allowed to fester unnoticed and untreated by Congress, FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program until Hurricane Sandy laid bare the symptoms of this legislative disease, one that is potentially fatal to the financial viability of many coastal/bay communities, including Broad Channel.
Back in early April, Kevin Boyle, the Editor of our local newspaper The WAVE, wrote in an editorial that:
"...some places like Broad Channel and parts of Howard Beach are in
the costliest zone—the V Zone. Those communities are in an uproar (as are
people in other V zones like Tom’s River, New Jersey—which has spawned a group
called Stop FEMA Now). People in these communities are trying to fight the V
Zone designation because of building requirements and insurance costs.
Frankly, we don’t think it matters all that much. They’re asking to be moved
from the electric chair to the gas chamber. If these communities are somehow
placated and moved from V to Zone A they will still be in a death struggle. (If
your annual insurance premium comes down from $30,000 to $15,000, does it
matter? $15,000 will be a town killer, too)."
We must continue to keep up the pressure on our elected representatives to deal with the source of this issue
(The Biggert-Waters Act) and support measures like legislation introduced in the United States Senate by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana,,,S.1098 -
A bill to reform the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 to
responsibly protect home ownership.
Call your elected representatives in the House and the Senate and let them know that, although we appreciate their efforts in obtaining FEMA's decision to designate Broad Channel an "AE" flood zone, we are still faced with a very dangerous set of government imposed regulations which could ultimately destroy the viability of our Broad Channel community, something even Super Storm Sandy could not do!
The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act must be either repealed or revised to allow continued subsidies for flood insurance in our area.
FEMA wants people out of the flood plane, so it's not likely that they'll let Biggert-Waters die.
ReplyDelete