GREECE, N.Y. (WROC) — A number of local homeowners who don’t currently pay for flood insurance may soon have to as a result of potential changes to the current Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood risk zones.
Knowing your risk for flooding is becoming even more important for properties along the shores of Lake Ontario. With 236 homes in the town of Greece currently in designated flood zones with flood insurance policies, FEMA’s proposed changes will mean more homeowners will need to pay for flood insurance with higher premium costs for existing plans.
If you weren’t paying for flood insurance already, you may have to soon. Director of Planning and Economic Development for the town of Greece Scott Copey says that two weeks ago the town received a letter from FEMA issuing a 90-day review period for the public to leave comments, and channel their own appeals on the proposed changes to the current flood risk zones in the area for those with a federally backed mortgage.
“After the changes which again are still in that 90-day review period we’re going to have a total of 394 homes, so roughly somewhere around 260 homes would be added to the flood plan in the town of Greece, almost doubling the homes that are in there now,” Scott says.
The flood zones are established to handle the different types of flooding. While the majority of Greece residents are in what’s called the AE zone for standing water, there are new zones being added.
“One of the new zones is called the VE zone, or velocity zone. That is a zone that is fairly commonplace on the Atlantic seaboard, not so much Great Lakes until now, what that is that it handles damages sustained from wave action during storms and things like that,” Scott says.
The addition of these new flood risk zones from FEMA is an attempt to make the flood insurance pay for itself. And while the town of Greece is doing what they can to improve the resiliency of coastal areas, they want to make homeowners aware that they are accepting comments and appeals, but they will need to gather strong scientific evidence to back up the data that FEMA has, and is already using to warrant the proposed changes.