Federal Emergency Management Agency National Flood Insurance Program : I Elevation C: Fill & Download for Free

Allow me to please clarify some of the other answers. I come at this from a 20+ year career in dealing with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is run by FEMA. I’m not an insurance agent. I worked for a state agency that in turn works with local municipalities to make sure they understand and carry out building requirements within flood zones. I’ve also become as much as an expert as a non-insurance agent can be on the flood insurance side.The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and subsequent amendments was passed because the private sector was not offering flood insurance due to uncertain, and highly concentrated risk. The Act requires local municipalities to agree to pass and enforce development rules within flood-prone areas in return for the availability of federal flood insurance within the municipality. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) develops flood maps, legally called Flood Insurance Rate Maps. You can look up the flood map for your area at msc.fema.gov.The flood maps contain four separate flood zones. V zones are areas along ocean or Great Lakes coast lines subject to at least a 3′ wave. A zones are either coastal areas with less than a 3′ wave, or inland areas with flooding from rivers, lakes, streams, etc. Both zones have probabilities of flooding of at least 1% per year. Most people call that the 100-year flood, but the percentage probability is more accurate. 1% per year equals a probability of 26% over any 30 year period.Shaded X zones (C zones on older maps) are areas subject to between a 0.2% and 1% probability of flooding per year. 0.2% = 6% over 30 years - greater than the probability of a fire.Unshaded X zones are everything else.Federal law requires flood insurance as a condition of a mortgage from either a federal lender or any federally regulated lending institution if the structure is fully or partially within an A or V zone. Almost all lending institutions are federally regulated.Banks are required to determine if a structure needs flood insurance prior to any closing. Some banks do a better job at this task than others. Many rely on national flood determination companies which are not government regulated, but do have a professional association with professional standards.Banks are supposed to provide 45 days notice of the need to obtain flood insurance. If the flood insurance is not obtained, the bank may force place it. Some of the larger national banks have subsidiaries that force place the insurance with a high users fee. Congress passed an amendment in 2012 that limits the banks’ practice by giving the lender 30 days to terminate the forced placed insurance and refund premiums after the borrower shows proof of their own flood insurance.Even if you purchase your own flood coverage, the bank may require you to escrow the premium, just as you might do for homeowners insurance, making your monthly mortgage check higher, though the amount you pay for the homeowners loan itself hasn’t changed.The price of flood insurance, especially for older homes that were built before flood zone construction regulations existed (generally before 1980 or so, but it varies by municipality) is expensive and getting more expensive. This is not FEMA’s doing. FEMA is complying with laws passed by Congress in the face of extremely expensive floods. So you could be paying $3000 per year for flood insurance, yet your actuarial risk may be even higher. That’s why private insurance companies got out of the business.As another writer stated, you can hire a surveyor to see of the lowest ground touching your home (not your lowest floor) is at least as high as the flood elevation. If so, you can file for a Letter of Map Amendment, which removes the insurance purchase requirement, though a bank may require flood insurance of anybody. Still the flood insurance would be much, much cheaper. And if you’re that close to a flood zone, I would recommend carrying it anyway since homeowners insurance does not cover flood damages.You can also decrease your risk by elevating your home, filling in any basement, and installing flood vents. Talk to your local building department for details.You can also decrease flood insurance by having a higher deductible.Finally, a number of private insurers are getting back into the flood insurance market, in part because the risk is better known now, and in part because of escalating FEMA rates. However many are cherry picking policies. Also private flood insurance carriers can drop you at any time. The NFIP cannot.