Flood insurance

moldman05

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Location
Rocky Mount NC
I'm trying to purchase a 5 k metal building on 6 acres for parking vehicles and work shop. Concrete floor is 7/10 of a foot below flood level so I have to buy flood insurance to satisfy lender. The amount insured would be amount borrowed about $ 180,000. I got a price Friday for $9,330. This looks to be a deal killer but can anybody advise me how to lower premium?
 
7/10 of a foot, meaning like 8 inches?
I'd find a way to raise the floor of the building higher by a foot. $9k can buy a lot of construction materials...
 
RatLabGuy said:
7/10 of a foot, meaning like 8 inches?
I'd find a way to raise the floor of the building higher by a foot. $9k can buy a lot of construction materials...
Click to expand...
Yep, 8.4 inches. Building had a foot of water in it during hurricane Floyd and subsequent flood.
Base flood elevation for location is 102.0.
Slab floor elevation is 101.3.
In flood zone AE.

auploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20160417_e5559f21dc478f88a7a6b4ff8246f4d1.jpg


Red iron steel building on Slab, nothing was hurt during the "500yr" flood, doubtful anything would be hurt by an 8.4" 100yr flood.


Cheapest solution to me, is to dig a moat around property and build 1 foot tall levee inside of moat, but I have no idea if that will suffice..... way out of my knowledge area.

The other problem is area around building slopes downward, necessitating a much higher levee farther away from building.
 
Ah, building already exists. Sorry I thought you were putting it up. That makes it a bigger challenge.
Would the moat get you out of the flood insurance?
 
Problem with a moat... I had a client that built a retaining wall to protect their office from a creek flooding. Piped out downspouts, sealed up as best they could. Water still got in, so they had to run a couple of sump pumps to keep water at bay. Power goes out....no pumps, so had to go over with generator, wade thru water, set it up. During Floyd, electric pumps could not keep up, so had to run (and maintain, and $ for fuel) a gas trash pump.
 
It might be worth requesting a reassessment from FEMA as it may be inaccurately assessed.

You can have a company perform a flood hazard analysis to see if it's worth asking FEMA.
 
If it were me and the building and property worth the added expense..

I'd raise the building up. But without seeing everything or knowing the whole property, sometimes that is easier said than done.
 
Can you opt out of flood insurance and just have fire? Seems like not much could be damaged in a flood except for contents.
 
Lender is requiring it along with hazard insurance. Hazard insurance is $2200 and covers $300000 worth of buildings. I have some large carport type shelters not flood able in addition to shop garage buildings.
 
My gf said there's no way in hell those quotes are accurate. What company did you get them from? Hopefully not the lender....

If you want to call her and see if she can help, she works for Farm Bureau.
 
It'd be awesome if someone could help him get cheaper coverage, for sure.
 
Just stumbled across this info...seems that maybe the FEMA maps are not always correct...interesting possibility for you to look at. Might invest in a surveyor to confirm the exact elevation of the slab, and the flood level in that location.

The maps were accurate enough in their time, but that line you see may have been drawn with a pen and represent 5 feet or 15 feet. Seems innocuous but it can mean the difference between a dry house/barn and one under 10 feet of water. It can also mean the difference between a hefty flood insurance premium and one that is very reasonable.
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Also - there is a way to dispute a flood map. Contrary to popular belief, this does not always require you hire an engineer, surveyor and perform a flood study. A landowner who believes the flood map is in error can file for a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment). You do this for just the scenario you wrote about - a map that failed to take into account a hill or feature that renders the map inaccurate, among other things.

You can do that now - you don't need to wait on FEMA to get around to your community for revisions.

For a horse farm that brought in fill for an arena, or barn, or for other reasons - and believes that change brings that area out of Zone A - the LOMA-F is used to change the map. While this means you no longer need flood insurance - I'd still suggest you obtain it. It is really cheap if you're not in Zone A but Lordy if you ever have a Georgia type flood will you be glad you have it. Zone C can and does flood too.

Once the LOMA is issued a copy goes to local gov't and that information should make it into GIS. Don't hold your breath though - keep a copy!
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rockcity said:
It might be worth requesting a reassessment from FEMA as it may be inaccurately assessed.

You can have a company perform a flood hazard analysis to see if it's worth asking FEMA.
Click to expand...

kaiser715 said:
Just stumbled across this info...seems that maybe the FEMA maps are not always correct...interesting possibility for you to look at. Might invest in a surveyor to confirm the exact elevation of the slab, and the flood level in that location.
Click to expand...

Seems like a novel idea! :D ;)
 
Lots of people found themselves in the floodplain when maps started to get drawn out with LIDAR. @rockcity and @kaiser715 are right, you're looking at a LOMA to change it. There used to be a lot of surveyors out there familiar with them because when the LIDAR hit it became big business. I get LOMA letters from time to time. At the very least you'll probably want a surveyor out to shoot elevations and verify that with your BFE (base floodplain elevation). Sounds like maybe you've already done that. I'll say that floodplain mapping has come a long way in the last few years and it's probably correct, or very very close to it. You are in that very very close range so it might be worth a shot.

You want a standard LOMA letter. LOMA-F's are when the map is to be amended because you filled the property to get above the BFE. Cannot really do that here since the building is existing.

I'd recommend checking out www.ncfloodmaps.com and see what it shows there. Don't trust your lender on this. If you see conflicting information on the maps that site has to offer, I'd request an official floodplain determination from your local floodplain administrator and take those results to your lender.
 
kaiser715 said:
Just stumbled across this info...seems that maybe the FEMA maps are not always correct...interesting possibility for you to look at. Might invest in a surveyor to confirm the exact elevation of the slab, and the flood level in that location.
Click to expand...


Surveyor has already been out and issued certificate for floor height, and this matches the state flood plane mapping that's public.

Just off property, BFE is 102.0, 102.5, and 101.8.

Certificate from surveyor shows floor elevation of slab is 101.3.

The bigger issue is whether the underwriters will accept private flood insurance that is now available in NC, instead of the NFIP/FEMA product. Coverage is the same for both.

Fema is $9331, $4300 for 50k deductible.
Private is $1833, for same coverage and 5k deductible.
 
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I found some affordable flood insurance thru private insurers ( Loyds of London) but awaiting approval from lender. Thanks for all the help. The National Flood Insurance program is a rip off but lenders are required to demand it and agency's selling it probably
make a lot
 
Mac5005 said:
Surveyor has already been out and issued certificate for floor height, and this matches the state flood plane mapping that's public.

Just off property, BFE is 102.0, 102.5, and 101.8.

Certificate from surveyor shows floor elevation of slab is 101.3.
Click to expand...



Sounds to me like you didn't tip the surveyor enough $. :D
 
She was going to suggest Lloyds :D
 
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