When It Rains, It Pours

FEMA Establishes New Flood Zones For Long Island

While Morton Salt may have coined (or at least trademarked) the phrase -- When It Rains, It Pours -- its the new flood zone maps for Long Island, drawn by the Federal Emergency Mamagement Agency (FEMA, the folks who brought you Katrina's aftermath), that are likely to be the salt in the wound for many LIers who may soon have to shell out for costly ($1500-$2000) flood insurance.

Seems that the new studies show more of us barely keeping our heads above water in the event of hurricanes, tropical storms, or good ol' Noreasters -- after all, we are on an island -- so the maps have been redrawn, establishing flood zones in areas heretofore thought to be "higher ground."

According to the feds, some 25,000 additional Long Islanders are likely to find their properties in flood zones when the new maps become "official" in September. [Let's hope homeowners don't get flooded out before then!]

Click HERE for the new flood zone maps for Nassau County (effective September 11).

Click HERE for the new flood zone maps for Suffolk County (effective September 25).

If you are soon to be in a FEMA-designated flood zone, contact your insurance broker about obtaining flood insurance, which is required by most mortgage lenders (ask about the "grandfathering" of lower rates, which permits homeowners to buy flood insurance at the existing, typically lower premium, provided they do so before the new maps go into effect).

With Long Islanders already awash in a sea of economic woes, caught in a riptide of escalating housing costs, drowning in burdensome property taxes, the new flood zones may just be enough to capsize the boat.

Of course, when it comes to sink or swim, better to have that flood insurance lifevest, than to risk it all should those "once every hundred years" floods come a calling at our suburban stoops!
- - -
For more on flood zones and emergency preparedness, visit www.fema.gov. Also, the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management, and Sufflok County Emergency Management.