The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has re-issued it maps of areas in New York and New Jersey affected by high velocity water damage, or so called "V-Zones. These latest reports have significantlly scaled back the zones thought to be at risk. The move has reduced the controversy over the zone maps which exploded when FEMA issued revised maps last December predicting thousands of homes to be in jeopardy of storm flooding.
Reducing the areas predicted to flood is good news to thousands of homeowners affected by last year's Hurricane Sandy. It means that homes no longer considered at risk can be repaired without putting them on expensive pilings. Likewise, lenders will not need to require those homeowners to buy expensive flood insurance.
Prior to Sandy, flood zones hadn't been updated since the early 1980's, and were being updated when the hurricane hit. The agency had no choice but to use the old data anyway as an early guideline for coastal residents beginning to plan rebuilding. FEMA’s regional Mitigation Director Bill McDonnell said, “It was based on the best available data that we had at that time. It was a conservative estimation so that if people were rebuilding, we knew that they were going to rebuild to a higher standard.”
Issuing revised maps will also be a boon to builders and contractors who have been waiting to see what measures must be taken to conform to the new re-building standards. Uncertainty has kept builders and homeowners waiting, and has prevented them from filing for some grants and loans. Municipalities in the affected areas expect an infusion of applications for building permits in the coming weeks.
On the map below, move the cursor on the vertical bar left or right to see prior and current flood zone designations. You can also move the map up, down or sideways using your cursor to view different areas of the map.
Originally posted on www.wesellny.com as FEMA scales back its V-zone flood maps.
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