Flood zones shrink in Daviess County

A significant number of Daviess County homeowners can bid farewell to their flood insurance.

The 2024 FEMA Flood Map was released last month — which was the first update to Daviess County’s map since 2009 — and the area now in a flood zone has shrunk dramatically.

“The maps are insane when you compare one to another, and so many homeowners are out of a flood zone — but they aren’t necessarily going to know this,” said Mary Mattingly, a Realtor with Triple Crown Realty Company who had been anxiously awaiting the update. “They’re not necessarily going to be contacted by their lender (about the change).”

Mattingly said flood maps were something new to her when she moved back to Daviess County after having been a Realtor in Louisville-Jefferson County for about three years, which she said “was high and dry.”

Now she has become a self-described “advocate” for making sure the public is aware of the flood map changes.

“I have been much anticipating the flood maps coming out this year, because I knew it was going to make a significant difference on home ownership affordability, as well as how much it was going to impact people,” she said. “The biggest thing that hurts is that there is a tremendous amount of properties that are no longer in the flood zone, but there is not a tremendous amount of people that are going to advise their clients and customers (on it).

“The person I’m concerned about is the guy who doesn’t check his email or even read his mail and is just going to sit there and pay, pay, pay and won’t even know he’s out of the flood zone. It kind of breaks my heart a little bit when I tell people they’re out of the flood zone, and people ask, ‘Why didn’t my insurance person tell me or why didn’t my bank tell me? Well, it’s not necessarily their job.”

Mattingly said her survey of the area showed about half the banks were advising clients of the flood zone change. That’s made it her mission to get the word out so people don’t spend the money unnecessarily.

“When flood insurance is $790 (a year) or $2,800, which is probably the highest flood insurance I’ve seen, it doesn’t just affect the marketability, but also the affordability of the home — and the ability to purchase the home increases (when that cost is subtracted). So from all aspects of the housing market, this is tremendous news for anyone that has been in a flood zone in the past.”

Mandie Hicks, a Kentucky Farm Bureau insurance agent, said her company is advising its customers of the change. However, homeowners still have to be proactive getting the paperwork required for the flood insurance to be dropped.

“Our office has someone here who is going through that map, and if we have their insurance, we are proactive about letting them know it has come out of the flood plain,” Hicks said. “But you can’t cancel a flood policy without a letter from the mortgage company releasing that requirement. So we have been proactive about saying, ‘You have come out of the flood, make sure you get that letter to us.’ ”

Mattingly said the biggest differences in the scope of the flood zone are found around the Poet area — which is predominantly between J.R. Miller Boulevard and Frederica Street, and south of Tamarack Road — and the Town and Country subdivision, which is off of Tamarack Road.

“Town and County is a huge change,” she said. “It’s like the floodwaters parted; it’s affecting so many citizens. There are still some segments (in the flood zone), but it is very small compared to what it has been.”

Mattingly credits the focus local governments have placed in recent years on finding a solution to the stormwater drainage issue — a problem that has long plagued the area — for being the catalyst for change.

“When you look at all of the things that have been done — Scherm Road project, retention basins — all of the things you’ve seen done in the last 15 years have significantly helped,” she said. “A lot of it comes from our government leaders.”

Rachel Pence Foster, Daviess County’s property valuation administrator, said the change won’t have an immediate impact on assessed property values, with it not an event that triggers a reassessment. All homes in Daviess County are reassessed every four years, with the county broken into quadrants.

To view the 2024 FEMA Flood Zone map, visit the PVA website at www.daviesskypva.org.

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(c)2024 the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.)

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