Thougts on buying in Flood zone AE - St Pete, FL?

[Divine_Madcat]

So, we just passed appraisal, and are now on the way to final underwriting...
Obviously not out of the woods yet, but the finish line is in sight!!

[catawba1]

Congrats OP. You made a great move. 42 feet is excellent, where you only have to worry about wind. Sinkholes mostly happen in low inland areas, and especially where the aquifer gets drained. I grew up in St. Pete, and my mother owned a house in a flood prone area of N.E. St. Pete until a few years ago. Like others have said, parts of Pinellas County will be islands if/when a big hurricane comes in at the right angle, simply because so much of the county is lower than the highest storm surges (e.g. 24 feet for Camille). Tampa Bay is exceptionally prone to a large storm approaching from the southwest or west moving to the northeast or east, due to the counter-clockwise rotation of hurricanes. Due to the bay's shape, the surge will actually be greatest at the top ends of Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has been incredibly lucky in the past century. The last bad one from that angle was in 1921, and it was only a category 3. The storm surge at the top of Tampa Bay was 10-12 feet, which was double the storm surge on the coast. A category 4 or 5 would be devastating, and likely worse than any recent hurricanes in the gulf. The last category 4 (estimated) in Tampa Bay was in 1848, when there were very few people in the area. History says the 1848 storm inundated Pinellas and Tampa, and had a storm surge at the coast of 15 feet. Like others have said, flood insurance is likely to be growing problem. Politics, risks, and policy will be affected by what happens elsewhere.

[wizrap]

Congratulations! We just spent the July 4th holiday in St. Pete and had a great time! Loved it. It’s a beautiful city.