New Flood Zone Maps Equal Savings For Broward Property Owners
FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Property owners in Broward County will now be able to more easily access whether their property is located in a flood zone.
According to the Sun Sentinel, all property owners need to do is visit broward.org to find what their flood designation was and is now.
About 60 percent of the county's land parcels will be out of a zone requiring flood insurance, the paper reported and they will have much lower premiums if they elect to get flood insurance.
However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not put the rules into effect until August 18 and property owners will have to wait until then to take advantage of the rules.
That means that if home or business' insurance premiums come up for renewal before then, owners will have to use the old rates, the paper reported.
Another area impacted will be new development because the new flood elevations will have to be used for new construction and any major improvements to existing construction.
About a quarter of the county's parcels -- about 122,000 -- will stay in the flood area, mostly those near the coast. Another 31,000 will be added because FEMA determined they faced more of a threat than thought, the county estimated.
Much of the county west of the Florida Turnpike was removed from zones that require flood insurance for a federally back mortgage.
According to the paper, all except for about a dozen properties in Miramar and Pembroke Pines are out of zones requiring flood insurance as city officials required developers to elevate land with fill dirt and install drainage improvements. Weston is in a similar situation.
Some lenders may still require flood insurance even if a property is outside the flood zone.
The Sun Sentinel contributed to this report.