New proposed flood maps that will be used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine flood insurance rates is out for a preliminary viewing, and the standards for property elevation have dropped significantly in many areas of the county.
Homeowners’ insurance agents in the county are surprisingly pleased with the latest appraisal of Glynn’s resistance to flooding and major storms. Based on the Golden Isles’ relatively unblemished storm record, some homeowners might see flood insurance rates in the future drop by as much as 35 percent, said Jack Hardman, a Nationwide Insurance agent.
“My understanding is that Glynn County has fared extremely well,” Hardman said. “FEMA has been very kind.”
But David Hainley, the county’s director of community development, cautioned that the present incarnation of the map is a work in progress, subject to change.
However, Hainley agrees the initial findings are encouraging. In some areas, the designated elevation dropped from 14 feet below sea level to 10 feet below sea level, he said.
“The elevations have dropped vertically, and therefore some areas that were considered a flood zone are not a flood zone,” he said. “But these are working maps, still preliminary.”
Most significantly, Riverside Drive in Riverside, a Brunswick neighborhood on a peninsula that juts out into the marsh, will drop from a V (Velocity) zone to an A zone. V zones are regarded as the most flood prone and subject to highest flood insurance rates.
In many neighborhoods in A zones, property owners could see flood rates drop significantly with the lowering of sea level designations, said insurance agent Fred McGinty of McGinty-Gordon & Associates.
McGinty said the proposed new FEMA map could be approved by the fall of 2016.
“We finally got some good news from FEMA for a change,” McGinty said. “The news for Glynn County homeowners that have to buy insurance is, for the most part, flood elevations went down anywhere from 1 to 3 feet. The V zones did not significantly expand and some were reclassified. Going from a V zone to an A zone is a significant reduction in cost.”
The reason? History. The model for the new flood map reflects Glynn County’s storm record over the past 40 years. That is when the most accurate meteorologic data is available. It also is a time when Glynn was relatively free of storm hits.
The East Coast takes its most westerly bend right here in the Golden Isles. Many believe the westernmost designation is a big reason the community is off the radar of so many named storms.
Geographically, Brunswick aligns closely with Columbus, Ohio, at 81.38 degrees W; Columbus is located at 82.88 W.
“We have no history of flooding, no history of hurricanes (in 40 years) and I think that’s been accurately reflected by the new FEMA maps,” Hardman said. “It’s nice to be able to accurately portray the historical picture in future estimates.”
The flood plain map is being developed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources through the Georgia Flood Mapping Assessing Planning Program. Preliminary flood plain maps will be released in October.
A 90-day appeal period for property owners will be set in the spring of 2016.
There are 66 separate flood zones in the present working map, Hainley said. Its production included “a million points of data,” each carefully analyzed. This included careful study of several storms that have had the most significant impact here. This data was turned into a computer simulated storm, its potential damage measured.
So far, it seems, the flood zone mappers seem to think Glynn County is in a pretty good place.
“I think it’s pretty much good news across the board,” Hardman said. “There are a lot of people that will get a significant savings.”
Residents can see drafts of the map through the Glynn County governmental website at: http://glynncounty.org/index.aspx?NID=1775. Residents can view paper copies of the map by appointment with Glynn County Department of Community Development, located on the second floor of the Harold Pate Building, 1725 Reynolds St. in Brunswick. Call Janet Loving at 554-7430 for appointments.
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