FEMA Flood Map Update (Huntsville, Madison: insurance, mortgage, how much)

[Reactionary]

I got a FEMA letter advising me that I now lived in a flood plain and attended the FEMA Open House meeting today for more information.

This blog post is from my friend Brian - he and I both got included in the new FEMA Map - Zone AE.

FEMA expands flood plain maps – Welcome to a special kind of hell! | flashpoint (http://www.flashpointblog.com/2010/12/08/fema-expands-flood-plain-maps-welcome-to-a-special-kind-of-hell/ - broken link)

I'm new to this issue, but I think that the remapping is going to raise my home insurance rates (~$1500 year) and devalue my property (my guess by $20k to $30k). Ouch! doesn't even begin to express how much that hurts.

I have a question for you realtors: am I correct in thinking that my home value will be impacted? Can the devaluation be calculated using just the higher insurance rate or are there other factors?

From The Huntsville Times:

Some 3,700 parcels would be added to the flood plain in Huntsville alone, including hundreds of homes near Dallas Branch in the Chapman Heights, Five Points and Dallas Mill neighborhoods.

Farther north, FEMA's expanded flood plain would take in homes along the previously unstudied east and west forks of Pinhook Creek near Johnson High School.

Affected neighborhoods include Windsor Manor, Valley Park, Lincoln Estates, Rolling Hills and Meadow Lane Estates.

Part of Alabama A&M University's campus around Louis Crews Stadium and the nearby Edgemont subdivision would be pulled into the flood plain of Normal Branch.

Large clusters of homes around the Academy for Science and Foreign Language, Scenic View Park and Mastin Lake Park would also be added to the flood plain, along with the many businesses in the Putnam and Commercial drive areas.

South of downtown, FEMA's expanded flood plain would grab parts of the Greenwycke Heights neighborhood on Drake Avenue plus areas near Southwood Presbyterian Church, Grissom High School and Box Canyon Road.

In Hampton Cove, parts of the Cobble Farms, Twelve Stones and Arbor Woods subdivisions would be added to the flood plain of the Flint River and Peevey Creek.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/12/..._could_fo.html

The flood zone maps, which are undergoing their first update since 1998, would place an additional 5,000 properties in a flood zone while removing about 1,000 properties.

Home and business owners who have a federally-backed mortgage on their property will probably have to buy flood insurance if any part of their property is placed in a flood zone.

Hundreds of Huntsville homeowners in line to view flood plain maps | al.com

[pyro4ik]

anyone have a pic of the map????????

[Reactionary]

Here's a link to the City's page:

Preliminary FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Mapping

FEMA also has a flood map (but note that it refers you to the City because the map is under review):

FEMA: Flood Maps

I used the address lookup for each of these so I don't know if they cover other areas of Madison County - but I do know that FEMA is updating the entire County Flood Map (as well as the rest of the USA).

[zenjenn]

I would imagine it would, Reactionary. One of the things I did when choosing a home was to look at FEMA flood plain maps.

[harry chickpea]

We lived on a flood plain in south Florida, but then so did most everyone else. If you live in one, you qualify for a national flood insurance policy. Get it. Cost is a couple hundred bucks a year. If you do nothing, you will be "force complied" and end up paying much more. It will devalue the property somewhat, but you can do mitigation if it bothers you and raise the house a few feet.

[DvlsAdvc8]

Interesting, the redrawn lines put me farther from the 500 yr line then I was before (Zone X - at least, on another map I saw it was called 500 year flood boundary). It used to come right up to the far back boundry of my property, but now its about 600 ft farther away... weird.

[Reactionary]

DvlsAdv8 - the redrawn maps changed the 100 yr / 500 yr lines (and Flood Zones) to incorporate drainage improvements / development not shown on previous maps. Looks like you benefitted from a drainage project.

In my neighborhood, new development upstream appears to have overloaded the drainage system. The flood channel (aka creek) used to be the only flood zone - now hundreds of houses are ZONE AE (100 yr high risk) or Zone A (lower risk).

[techochic]

Anyone have updates for the new flood map for the Hampton Cove areas such as Cobblestone and Twelve Stones? I have been told both Cobblestone and Twelve Stones are fighting the new map. I am looking at homes in the Hampton Cove area and like to hear from anyone living in the area as to the status and how it will hurt home values in the general Hampton Cove area (area including the Taylor/Wal-mart side as well as the Cobblestone side)? Thanks!

[dijkstra]

Why would they be fighting the new map? Most of Hampton Cove used to be pretty much swamp land and marsh. They dug a few ponds but call them "lakes", used the dirt to raise the level of the swamps a foot or two and then built homes on them. They have moved the flood lines around numerous times in that area to suit development. If you live in the Hampton Cove area and don't have flood insurance you are rolling the dice every day. lol

[Mawoods]

I think this whole area is prone to flooding. I remember when we first arrived here in late 2004 being shocked at how just a regular hard rain made so much havoc along areas that we lived near over in Madison such as Madison Blvd. That road would have really high water after what I consider just rain. And there are places all over the valley that are filled with water very easily. Even our neighborhood off of Mill Rd in city of Madison use to be a swamp. We were told numerous times that where our house sat was filled with swampy muck. We didn't know that before we bought. But we never had any issues. Whatever they did was done right although our back yard could be scary at times. It never came up to the house. There are just so many creeks and rivers. I can't imagine what it was like before the TVA. And if you live on the mountains, it is an awsome sight to see how much water comes down off it when it rains. We looked at some homes that you could tell there were erosion/rocks slides from the water coming off the sides of the mountains and all that right into your yard. Now that I have been here twice for a few years, I don't think too much of it. Part of living in the TN Valley I think. Along with sinkholes!!!!