Lower flood insurance premiums coming for local buildings in high-risk areas

Sept. 26--Flooding concerns are still fresh in the minds of many people in Gastonia in light of Hurricane Florence's wrath in Eastern North Carolina.

So a new announcement from the city is probably as reassuring as it is timely for local residents with property in high-risk portions of the floodplain. The owners of homes and businesses in those areas will soon get a discount on their flood insurance rates.

The news comes courtesy of a favorable response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Gastonia recently applied to become a part of FEMA's Community Rating System program, which aims to reduce flood damage to homes and buildings with the greatest risk of flooding.

FEMA's acceptance of that bid means that Gastonia properties located in the Special Flood Hazard Area will get a 5 percent discount on flood insurance premiums.

Assistant City Engineer Tucker Johnson, who is also the local CRS coordinator, said the plan going forward will be to achieve even greater discounts for local flood policies.

"Being accepted into the CRS program is a good first step," he said.

In the Gastonia city limits, there are currently a total of 453 structures situated within the Special Flood Hazard Area. Floodplain maps define that land as having at least a 1 percent chance of flooding in any given year.

The vast majority of the city's flood-prone homes and businesses are positioned along the Catawba Creek and were built in the years before floodplains were mapped. They were also in place before regulations were adopted and enforced to restrict floodplain development.

Homes and businesses in a Special Flood Hazard Area that have a federally backed mortgage are required to have flood insurance. The new 5 percent discount will be automatically applied to qualifying flood insurance policies in Gastonia issued or renewed after Oct. 1, 2018.

FEMA's Community Rating System is intended to reduce the number of flood insurance claims in the United States each year. The program gives credit to participating communities for floodplain mapping and development regulations, flood-damage reduction, public information about flood hazards, and flood warning and response.

You can reach Michael Barrett at [email protected] or on Twitter @GazetteMike.

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