FEMA Offers Flood Insurance Program To Copper Country Communities

Flood insurance could be available to residents through a federal program that would help protect them if another disaster strikes.

The National Flood Insurance Program is offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Communities agree to put into place practices to minimize flood impacts and FEMA makes subsidized flood insurance available through local insurance agents.

The DEQ’s UP District Floodplain Engineer Linda Hansen said residents within those communities could purchase the insurance if they want it, but unless they have a federally backed mortgage, they would not be required to.

“What dictates whether or not the person is required to buy flood insurance is one: they must have a federally backed mortgage—if they have no mortgage or the mortgage is not federally backed, they will not be required to buy flood insurance if they are within a mapped floodplain,” said Hansen.

Second, if the homeowner does have a federally-backed mortgage, then their bank could require flood insurance depending on the amount of risk to the home.  Hansen said, “The thing that dictates whether or not you actually need that flood insurance or whether or not it is actually required by FEMA is whether or not your bottom floor elevation lies above or below—and if so, how are below—that 100 year flood elevation.”

Only a handful of communities in the Copper Country were part of the program prior to the Father’s Day Flood but Hansen says several more are now in the process of joining.

To see if flood insurance is going to be available in your community, contact your local city, village, or township office.

You can hear the entire interview with the DEQ’s UP District Floodplain Engineer Linda Hansen on this Sunday’s episode of Copper Country Today.