Higher flood insurance costs may await Corpus Christi residents
Representatives from the
The updates could mean the Texas
City officials will be working under a new manual, released in 2017, for the community ratings system. It's a voluntary program that acts as a kind of scorecard to measure flood mitigation efforts and based on that score, lower flood insurance rates are awarded.
The rating had previously translated to a 15 percent discount for homes in what are deemed special flood hazard areas and a 5 percent discount for the rest of the city.
"The rules are changing and we're going to be advancing (what are) considered best management practices that the community has to embrace with the idea that it provides for protection for our city and keeps everybody's flood insurance premiums to the minimum cost possible," said
It's just one piece in a series of uncertainties approaching on how flood insurance, and flood insurance rates, could affect the city's anticipated flood risks and the price attached to taking them.
Along the Coastal Bend, other changes could be waiting for all communities that are included in the National Flood Insurance Program, the
The program has fallen deeper and deeper into the red over the years, prompting calls to increase insurance rates amid the growing number of claims. Demands for reform have grown louder, particularly after the program's budget was strained by Hurricane Katrina and later, Superstorm Sandy.
So far,
There was little storm surge in
But the overall effects of the hurricane's glance gave city officials who surveyed the damage a benchmark of what only a Category 1 storm could do in
"We were tested enough," Green said. "And there was enough damage, even for dodging the brunt of the storm, that it makes a lot of sense to look at how we do everything."
Also in question are frequently contested flood maps that help determine who must buy insurance.
The last updates to
Harvey arrived as
The city, as a whole, is considered a flood zone. The distinctions made by the maps indicate only degrees of risk, based on a yearly 1 percent chance of experiencing a 100-year storm. Currently, in
While they aren't finalized, the draft maps showed significant changes.
More than 5,000 properties throughout
The draft maps show a wide swath that includes the Molina neighborhood and
The same is true for large portions of the sprawling Southside.
If the flood risk designations are finalized as shown in draft maps, it will likely mean flood insurance will be required for homes in those areas on a mortgage.
Updates from one appeal on the drafts are pending, said
It is expected the revised preliminary maps will be released to the public early this year. A comment period will follow.
Department heads in the past have recommended the
Staff may now also look to what could be more substantial changes, such as revising transportation plans to further protect wetlands -- or possibly include in an ordinance the ability for city officials to identify areas of known flooding, do an engineering survey and submit it to
Officials haven't settled on what recommendations they'll make to policymakers.
City documents show that in 2015, there were 7,983 flood insurance policies for properties in
Insurance premiums, for the time being, will remain the same. Those wouldn't reflect any changes until maps are finalized.
But it's strongly recommended that residents purchase flood insurance now to avoid a potential rate hike in the future.
The city isn't necessarily at risk of losing its standing in the ratings system, Green said.
"We won't know what our end position is until we know what policies are adopted," he said. "But if we're not advancing these ideas... and the result came back with a lower rating, the obvious question is, 'Why did you let this happen? Why is this happening to us? What has been going on?'"
But Harvey wrought some hard lessons. The maps didn't show everything.
In
Within the city, roughly 15 percent of homeowners had flood insurance, said
"A lot of people have purchased flood insurance since Harvey," he said.
This story was produced in partnership with the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the
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