EDITORIAL: Flood prevention efforts pay off

April 30--The Montour County commissioners and Danville borough officials will save a number of their residents money by pursing funding to raise a portion of the flood wall in Danville.

The commissioners last week formally accepted a $1 million grant from the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority for the project along the Upper Susquehanna and Hospital Run levee.

The height along about 6,000 feet of the levee will be increased by less than a foot from Grand Street to an area beyond the borough's water treatment plant, along East Market Street.

That few more inches of flood protection directly benefits homeowners and their pocketbooks.

That's because the Federal Emergency Management Agency increased the average flood elevation following Tropical Storm Lee in 2011. Those elevations affect the properties that are listed in the flood plain.

After the project is completed and the new levee height is included on FEMA maps, residents in the neighborhoods near the levee will likely not be required by their mortgage lenders to carry flood insurance, according to Jamie Shrawder, Danville's director of governmental affairs.

It is not mandatory that homeowners carry flood insurance, but mortgage lenders generally require it for properties they finance if they are located in federally designated flood plains.

Flood insurance covers water damages not included in a standard homeowner's insurance policy. It can insure a home for up to $250,000 and contents for up to $100,000. Renters can insure their contents for up to $100,000. Flood insurance also can be purchased for any insurable property, even if it is not located in a flood plain, covering almost any building, including rental property and condominiums, according to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

Thanks to the proactive actions taken by Montour County and Danville, along with the grant made available through the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority, residents will have more choices and fewer requirements.

Those who own properties located within a flood plain can make modifications on their own to reduce potential flood damages and the cost of their flood insurance. Some of those options are spelled out in a 16-page publication, "Reducing Flood Risk to Residential Buildings That Cannot Be Elevated," available on a FEMA website at:www.floodsmart.gov.

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