Horry County encouraging homeowners affected by new flood zones to get flood insurance now

Horry County staff began distributing blue door hangers to homes and businesses in low-lying areas this week, informing those property owners that their land could soon be in a high-risk flood zone.

More than 10,000 Horry County parcels will be added to the new flood zones. County officials have until Dec. 16 to formally accept the maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and they are encouraging affected property owners to obtain flood insurance before the maps are approved.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure that the people that are going into the flood zone have every opportunity to purchase flood insurance before that date," said David Gilreath, the county's assistant administrator over infrastructure and regulation. "Because if they get it before the date, it's cheaper. If they maintain flood insurance after that date, it will rise. … Within a few years, they're going to be at the normal rate. But if they get it before Dec. 16, they can get a discount for a number of years before they get to that maximum."

County staff have developed detailed maps to make sure the owners of the 10,536 parcels (representing 12,331 addresses) going into federal flood zones receive proper notice, said Tommy Smith, the county's code enforcement director.

"We started this week doing a trial run," he said. "We've had some conversations with the people that we've interacted with. It's been fruitful so far."

The door hanger distribution efforts will ramp up next week, bringing in additional departments to get ahead of the council's approval of the new maps.

The county is not sending notices to the owners of properties that are already in a flood zone.

"If you don't get a door hanger, that doesn't mean you're not in the flood zone," Gilreath said.

The door hangers contain contact information about the upcoming changes and website addresses for FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program and the county's flood resiliency project.

To find out if your property could be impacted by the new flood zones, check out the maps on the county's website: www.horrycounty.org/gis/flood.