I-Team: Senators Aim To Change FEMA Flood Maps
MIAMI (CBS4) - Because of an eye-opening CBS4 I-Team report on flood insurance rates, two prominent senators took a step toward providing relief for South Florida residents and others across the nation who are struggling to afford coverage for their homes.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and New York Senator Charlie Schumer introduced a measure in Washington to delay the mandatory purchase of flood insurance until outdated flood maps can be revised.
I-Team Investigative Reporter Stephen Stock uncovered the rates many South Floridians pay for flood insurance are based on inaccurate, and flawed mapping standards and techniques.
A map of Miami-Dade from 1994 compared to the new FEMA map issued in September of 2009 shows the many changes 15 years later. Though officials say many Miami-Dade residents were mapped out of a flood zone, the map shows that others now find themselves, for the first time, suddenly living in a flood zone without ever moving.
That means that for the very first time, many people who suddenly find themselves in a flood zone, are being required to carry flood insurance by their mortgage lender.
Even more astounding, the I-Team has learned that a critical elevation measurement standard, used to create the FEMA flood maps, hasn't changed since the roaring 20's!
Flappers, fringe, the Charleston and speakeasies! It was 1929, three years after the deadly 1926 "unnamed" hurricane in Miami, and two years after the great Mississippi flood of 1927, when the U.S. government set the measurement standard that has been used to create elevation levels for flood maps, including the newest maps for Miami-Dade county.
Meanwhile, new FEMA flood maps are scheduled for release in Broward County next year.
For more information in Miami-Dade, call 305-372-6466 or click here. For all other information from FEMA, click here
