The updated maps show about 400 pieces of property in the county have either been placed inside a flood hazard zone — meaning building owners could be required to purchase flood insurance — or have been removed from such a zone.
County officials said they have little to do with the update, but like officials in other counties and cities, are required to participate in the federal National Flood Insurance Program, through which all flood insurance is backed. Commissioners met last year to discuss the coming update, and last week approved an updated flood damage prevention ordinance, passing enforcement of that ordinance to a flood plain manager in the county’s Highway Department.
“FEMA basically did a restudy of the Middle Coosa Watershed,” flood plain manager Jeff Clendenning said Wednesday. Nearly all of Calhoun County lies within that watershed.
Clendenning, also a surveyor and project engineer in his department, said the new maps “made everything a lot tighter, and a lot more accurate,” as they are based on aerial photography taken in the last three years to determine the elevation of each area of the county.
According to Clendenning, a little more than half of the 400 parcels where the risk classification has changed are now considered within a flood hazard zone.
Homeowners or contractors who live or build on those parcels will be required by their mortgage company to buy flood insurance going forward.
It’s coverage sold by David Glass at Calhoun Insurance, as well as other private insurance companies, but backed by the National Flood Insurance Program, Glass said by phone Wednesday.
“They basically get insurance companies to manage it,” said Glass, also a member of Jacksonville City Board of Education, “but they kind of design the program.”
Except to those who’re required to have it, Glass said he doesn’t sell much of the insurance: “Most people don’t believe there’s ever going to be a flood.”
Owners of the less than 200 parcels no longer in flood hazard zones will no longer be required to have flood insurance, but Clendenning recommends keeping the insurance anyway, as premiums outside such zones are much lower.
Clendenning will be responsible for ensuring the county’s flood damage prevention ordinance is followed. The ordinance forbids building within any floodway, and requires permits for construction in flood hazard areas.
Noncompliance with the ordinance can result in fines that accrue daily, the flood plain manager said. Calhoun County could also be removed from the National Flood Insurance Program for repeated offenses — which would nullify any area homeowner’s flood insurance.
To determine whether your property lies within a flood hazard area, go online to the county’s tax Website at gis.calhouncounty.org
and select the flood hazard zone viewer.
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©2016 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.)
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