Oxnard, Fillmore homeowners urged to buy flood insurance [Ventura County Star, Calif.]

Dec. 10--Even though Oxnard and Fillmore residents got a reprieve from having to buy flood insurance, federal officials on Wednesday urged local real estate agents, insurance brokers and mortgage lenders to get their clients to buy the policies."Just because we're still in the process of putting the map together doesn't mean there isn't a risk," said Jana Critchfield, an insurance specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.On Wednesday, Critchfield held two seminars to provide professionals in the local housing industry a better understanding of the federal flood insurance program.The discussion brought up an issue for local agents when dealing with clients as FEMA continues to decide which properties in Oxnard and Fillmore should be included in the flood zone."Well, I just tell people that this is going on," said real estate broker Donna Wolfe, who works in Oxnard.She's already done that with a property in the River Ridge neighborhood of Oxnard, which borders the Santa Clara River. "I wanted her (the customer) to be aware that she might eventually be in a flood insurance zone," Wolfe said.Some homeowners who purchased flood insurance in anticipation that FEMA would finalize the maps in Oxnard and Fillmore now are interested in getting refunds, but FEMA's Critchfield said that's not likely to happen."If you bought during this period, you are not going to get that money back," she said. "It's very clearly explained when you buy that policy it cannot be canceled. They may actually find that they're happy they bought it because we're going to have a wet year."The only exception to that is if a property is officially removed from a flood zone, she said.She gave a similar presentation Tuesday evening in Moorpark. FEMA has been going through a nationwide process of reassessing flood risks in various communities since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The 100-year flood zone is meant to designate an area that has a 1 percent risk of an extreme flood occurring in any given year. FEMA is currently working on watersheds in Ventura County.A new map, effective on Jan. 20, will require 1,200 residents in Moorpark to purchase flood insurance.Although the flood-rate maps for Oxnard and Fillmore were also to be finalized at the same time, FEMA officials decided recently to postpone the date while they continue to study water flows in the Santa Clara River and the levees lining the waterway. There are about 1,800 properties in Oxnard that might be affected by the new maps and about 1,200 properties in Fillmore.Almost 200 people attended the two workshops Wednesday. Critchfield went over the rates, showing comparisons between the discounted policies purchased before the rate maps are finalized and the costs of purchasing the insurance afterward. For a homeowner buying before the maps go into effect it would cost $348 in the first year and $906 each year afterward. Without the discounted rate, it would cost a homeowner $1,634 a year.Flood insurance rate information can be found at http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/residential_coverage/policy_rates.jsp.To see more of the Ventura County Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.venturacountystar.com.Copyright (c) 2009, Ventura County Star, Calif.Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.