Have you recently received a letter from the Henderson City-County Planning Commission (HCCPC) stating that all or a portion of your property has been mapped into a higher risk zone, known as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)?
Do you know what this means or what you need to do now? Hopefully after reading this blog you will be better informed to address your current situation.
First, you need to contact Brian Bishop at 270.831.1289 and request that he email you a copy of your property in the revised zone. This will show you exactly what part of your property is affected by this map change (example below).
You can then determine what step you need to take to protect your property. More than likely you will need to purchase a flood insurance policy based on your current zone and possibly be grandfathered in to a better zone than if you wait. Due to a 30 day wait (unless required by your mortgagee), you need to act quickly before the flood maps change.
If you have a mortgage on your home, your bank may require that you purchase flood insurance. However, if the information that you receive from Brian shows that your home or buildings are not in the SFHA, you may be able to get a letter from the HCCPC stating that fact and the bank may not require you to purchase the insurance. If this step doesn’t work, then you will need to obtain an elevation certificate that can possibly help lower your flood insurance premium. You might also consider applying for a letter of map amendment (LOMA) to see if you can remove your property out of the SFHA. If you are successful in doing this, then that would save you and any future buyer of your home from having to purchase flood insurance.
A letter was sent to Henderson City-County residents about this issue on January 9, 2013 by the Henderson City-County Planning Commission.