Flood Insurance Premiums To High?
The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating
System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and
encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the
minimum NFIP requirements. As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect
the reduced flood risk resulting from the community actions meeting the
three goals of the CRS:
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Reduce flood losses;
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Facilitate accurate insurance rating; and
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Promote the awareness of flood insurance.
For CRS participating communities, flood insurance premium rates are
discounted in increments of 5%;
i.e., a Class 1 community would receive
a 45% premium discount, while a Class 9 community would receive a 5%
discount (a Class 10 is not participating in the CRS and receives no
discount).
The CRS classes for local communities are based on 18
creditable activities, organized under four categories:
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Public Information,
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Mapping and Regulations,
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Flood Damage Reduction, and
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Flood Preparedness.
For more information on the program visit The CRS Resource Center on line or contact Sue Baker, Maine NFIP Coordinator by e-mail or by phone at 287-8063.
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Flood Disaster Update
Up to 3.5 inches of heavy rainfall rain fell from April
29-30, 2008 in Aroostook
County. This rain hit rivers already swollen with up
to 5 inches of water contributed from snowmelt over the preceding 2 weeks.
These conditions caused extensive flooding, especially in areas such as Fort Kent,
Wallagrass and Van Buren, Maine with recurrence intervals
estimated to
be between 100 and 500-years.
Following
the disaster declaration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency opened a
joint field office with the state of Maine. The mitigation branch, at the Winthrop, ME field
office, is working on Community Assistance Contacts to several communities in Aroostook County to help community officials with
questions and concerns about the administration of the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP). The NFIP has been in
existence since 1973 and has provided communities across the nation with a
means of constructing buildings which are not as prone to damages during times
of high water. The mitigation branch at
the JFO is also planning on developing flood recovery information to assist
state and community officials in the repair and reconstruction process. In addition, several buildings are being
considered for acquisition or elevation as part of the Hazard Mitigation Grant
Program. One other effort at the field
office involves the review, for possible mitigation, of projects to help
communities repair and replace damaged public facilities (such as roads,
culverts and buildings) following the flooding.
For more information and to monitor FEMA activities in you can access our Maine Severe Storms and Flooding web site online .
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USGS Publishes Report on York County Flood of 2006
The USGS has published it's final report on the flooding that took place in May of 2006. York county experienced floods well in excess of the 100 year flood levels and public damages of over $7.5 million dollars.
The complete report can be accessed on line at the USGS Web Site.
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Newsletter Funding
This newsletter is funded with a grant provided by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
EMB-2007-CA-0874
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