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I always check the flood maps. Most listings don't include this critical information. So, I have seen the one percent zones, the .2% zones, and the minimal risk zones. Now, looking at one in a striped zone, that is protected by a levee...What are the implications of this, and would flood insurance be required for a borrower of a levee protected home?
I always check the flood maps. Most listings don't include this critical information. So, I have seen the one percent zones, the .2% zones, and the minimal risk zones. Now, looking at one in a striped zone, that is protected by a levee...What are the implications of this, and would flood insurance be required for a borrower of a levee protected home?
My experience has been that an area protected by a flood wall or levee does not need additional flood insurance.
I always check the flood maps. Most listings don't include this critical information. So, I have seen the one percent zones, the .2% zones, and the minimal risk zones. Now, looking at one in a striped zone, that is protected by a levee...What are the implications of this, and would flood insurance be required for a borrower of a levee protected home?
Isn't there a "legend" to explain what the striped zone means? There are several things to consider in this situation.
First, what protection level does the levee SUPPOSEDLY provide protection to? I wrote "supposedly" because flood maps and flood risks can change depending on what changes may have occurred upstream. The levee may have been built to initially provide 100 year (i.e. 1% risk zone) protection, but changes upstream plus additional rainfall and runoff data may have reduced that to 50 year or even 20 year protection.
Second, whatever protection the levee provides, it does so only so long as the levee itself remains intact and stable. If the levee is breached or compromised by a washout or failure of some support system (walls, gates, pumps, valves, etc) then it's just like the levee doesn't exist at all.
So, whether flood insurance is required or not, I would think it would be prudent to purchase it anyway. I also think it would be prudent of lenders to require flood insurance in this situation for the reasons listed above. Since the levee is there (even though the protection cannot be guaranteed), it may result in a reduced premium for the flood insurance policy. Check with the insurer (federal government?) to find out.
"Hundreds of dam failures have occurred throughout U.S. history. These failures have caused immense property and environmental damages and have taken thousands of lives. As the nation’s dams age and population increases, the potential for deadly dam failures grows.
No one knows precisely how many dam failures have occurred in the U.S., but they have been documented in every state. From January 2005 through June 2013, state dam safety programs reported 173 dam failures and 587 "incidents" - episodes that, without intervention, would likely have resulted in dam failure."
That's 173 dam failures in just over 8 years. Click on the link above to see the locations of some dam failures on a map. Levees and dams work great... until they don't. Millions of people in the US live downstream of one or more major dams and don't even know about it.
They say a levee failure can be much worse than no levee at all.
Very true. Without a levee (or dam) people in the area will know about recent past floods and be prepared to move themselves and some possessions to higher ground. When a levee or dam breaks, it is a very sudden event and it sends a wall of water into a community that wasn't at all prepared for it. This can lead to loss of lives and extensive property damage or devastation.
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