I-Team: FEMA Flood Maps Flunk Accuracy Test
MIAMI (CBS4) - For 20 years, Jack Myers had been trying to tell FEMA that his home was not in a flood zone. Myers lives in the Forest Ridge subdivision of Davie. It is the highest point in Broward County.
After CBS4 I-Team Reporter Stephen Stocked exposed the silliness of the highest point being mapped into a flood zone... FEMA did an "about face."
Myers long awaited good news came in the mail.
"This was the big letter that came through," Myers told Stock, proudly showing off the government's admission that Myers no longer had to pay for flood insurance.
"It says for your reference we've made a determination and the document removal and you are now...your structure has been put in x..." Myers read.
In plain language, this letter told Jack Myers that his 20 year fight with Washington had finally succeeded and he would not be needing federal flood insurance.
"After 20 years I thought wow... why didn't they tell me that a long time ago," Myers said
The FEMA letter and change in Myers' flood zone status only came after a CBS4 I-Team investigation exposed how unequal and arbitrary FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program is.
"To me it was cut and dry and it had been since day one. After 20 years and $6,000, we've finally been pulled out of the flood plain unless somebody makes a change again," said Myers.
That's right. Jack Myers had, over the years, paid about $6,000 for flood insurance he didn't need... insurance FEMA now admits in this letter, he shouldn't have been forced to buy.
"I'm happy I did it because if I hadn't I would be still be paying it. And I would have been complaining and cussing the rest of my life," Myers announced.
Myers is not alone. The CBS4 I-Team discovered as many as 1,700 homes in Broward County built along the highest natural peak in Broward all of which have been paying for mandatory flood insurance for years.
The I-Team also learned that many of the flood maps that designated a homes level of flood risk, are based on elevation data that's 20, 30 even 50 years old.
New, updated flood maps were put into place in Broward County just last week.
Miami-Dade residents got new maps last year and some residents suddenly found themselves mapped into a flood zone without ever moving because FEMA changed the mapping criteria.
In fact, only Monday FEMA rescinded mandatory flood coverage for major portions of Sweetwater, meaning 2,000 homes no longer have to carry flood insurance that had cost anywhere from $500-$5,000 per household.
US Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida is frequently critical of FEMA.
"The flood insurance program is not actuarily sound. And that's why you're having the Federal government have to subsidize it," Nelson told Stock.
But the troubles with the FEMA flood program have some in Congress vowing to either do away with it and start again or create a major overhaul of the entire program.
"It is critically important to Florida becaue 40% of all the flood insurance policies are in the state of Florida," Nelson explained.
It's a program that has cost taxpayers nearly $15 billion dollars ($14,681,000,000) in the last five years alone.
And since Hurricane Katrina, the program is another $18 billion underwater.
"I think in a new administration you will see a real effort to streamline the flood insurance progra," said Senator Nelson. "It's a delicate thing and of course the population of the United States likes to be populated along the water. So we're going to have to face it."
Jack Myers has asked FEMA to refund all that money he paid over 20 years, but so far, he's received no response to that request.
As unfair as the program was to Jack Myers and others living in higher elevations in Broward County, the FEMA flood program has actually not forced enough other residents who do live in flood zones to pay. That means that when a hurricane or other flood hits the U.S.... federal taxpayers are left holding the bill.
That means that even if Congress changes the program, it's likely that in the future, more of us will be paying for flood insurance... not less, like Jack Myers.
If you want to see if you might live in a flood zone or how the new flood maps could impact you... there are new tools available on-line where you can search your address to find out.
Click Here to Read Miami-Dade Flood Map Locator
Click Here to Read Broward Flood Map Locator
