Panama City Adopts Flood Insurance Reporting Tool

Jan. 17--PANAMA CITY -- Property owners may soon be able to take advantage of flood insurance discounts now that the city has adopted a new reporting tool.

The Repetitive Loss Area Analysis Report makes annual recommendations on how homeowners that have repetitive flooding can mitigate their properties, such as, flood-proofing, elevating, and re-directing drainage. Panama City Council adopted the report as part of its involvement with the Community Rating System.

City Engineer Jennifer Aldridge said the report is worth 140 points -- a boost to discounts already in place.

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"Residents of the City are currently receiving a 20 percent discount on Flood Insurance if they are located in Flood Zone A, AE, V, and VE, Aldridge wrote in an email Thursday. "This report will help improve the City's rating so residents can receive a higher discount."

City of Panama City is currently in the CRS Class 6, with Class 1 holding the best rating and 10 the worst. According to the report, as of December 2018, the city had 2,529 flood insurance policies, totaling flood insurance of more than $7.1 million. And of its 41 repetitive loss properties, 25 of them are currently insured.

The zones are determined by various factors, such as, percentage of flooding and the length of a mortgage.

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Aldridge noted that any property could benefit from the tool as new flood prone areas become identified each year.

"This report is focused on repetitive loss properties in Panama City, but this report could apply to any property," she wrote. "Just because an area has not been designated with repetitive flooding does not mean that there are not more areas out there that have flooding issues."

Although the plan to adopt the tool was in place prior to the storm, paid out claims of 720 paid losses against the National Flood Insurance Porgram have topped $21 million, "with 41 of those being substantial damaged claims from Hurricane Michael," the report stated.

If a homeowner feels like they have repetitive flooding issues, they may send photos, addresses and information to info@pcgov.org. The Community Rating System Repetitive Loss Area Analysis Report may be accessed at City Hall or online at www.pcgov.org.

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