URGENT! Flood Insurance...coming to a town near you!

Is the cost of gasoline getting you down? Are you worried about rising food prices? If you find these things disturbing, then you're going to be real upset about the potential increase in home insurance cost due to the decertification of the Santa Maria River Levee. How much can flood insurance cost? Some Santa Maria residents face a potential increase of $5,481.00 per year!

HISTORY: The city of Santa Maria has a history of flooding. To address this problem, the Feds had the US Army Corps of Engineers build the Santa Maria River Levee. The Levee was completed in 1963. The Levee was suppose to be able to control a flow of 150,000 cubic feet per second. That is almost double the anticipated flow from the predicted 100 year flood. In 1969, the levee almost breached. In 1998 the levee suffered a breach. The water flow was less than 30,000 cfs, way below the anticipated 78,000 cfs of the 100 year flood! The Corps of Engineers decertified the levee during their last inspection.

FEMA is preparing to release new flood maps because of the decertification. It is anticipated that the new maps will be released around September of this year. It will take about 6 months for the new maps to be approved. Almost all of the homes north of Betteravia will now be in an "A" flood zone. All lenders with homes in an "A Zone" must require flood insurance due to the "Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973". Almost all of the homes in Santa Maria, with outstanding mortgages, will be required to have flood insurance.

If you currently have a home in an "X" zone, you can purchase a flood policy with $250,000 building coverage and $100,000 contents coverage for only $348 per year. When the new maps are approved, your "X Zone" would be grandfathered in but your rates would still go up because the whole community is loosing the "Preferred Flood Zone". Your rates would then go up to $1,385 (as a cost cutting measure, you could remove the contents coverage and only pay $849).

If you don't have a grandfathered "X Zone" and you purchased your flood insurance after the map's approval date, the same coverages could go up to $5,481 ($4,379 if you remove the contents coverage).

If your home was built after the "Pre Firm" date (05/15/1974) or before the "Post Firm" date (tentatively April of 2009) then your designated zone will be grandfathered in. If your home was built during this time period, and is currently an "X Zone", then there isn't any urgency to buy insurance to save premium.

WORD TO THE WISE: If your home was built before 05/15/1974 ("Pre Firm") and is currently in an "X Zone", the prudent thing to do is to purchase flood insurance before the new maps are approved. This guarantees you a perpetual "X Zone" and will facilitate the future sale of your home since flood insurance is transferable.

Side note: The Army Corps of Engineers have established a preliminary estimate of $48,000,000 to fix the levee. Our mayor, city council and congresswoman are actively seeking ways to fund this repair. After all public funding sources are exhausted, I anticipate we will have a bond measure on the ballot.

Feel free to call John Everett, Allstate Insurance, if you have any questions at: 349-9141 COMPLIMENTS OF...Pam Adkisson Fidelity Title and Escrow, Santa Maria.

Writer's Bio: John Everett. Allstate Insurance Agent since 1982. 4 year member of the City of Santa Maria Planning Commission. Past Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. Current member of the City of Santa Maria Economic Development Commission.