Apr 20, 2018 - amendments to the way the National Flood ... âpatchwork quiltâ of flood maps has coverage ... Agency
From:
Dana Anaman
To:
"
[email protected]"
Subject: Important April FloodBroker Updates Date:
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 17:35:52 +0000
APRIL 2018
Newsletter
A message from Evan: "'When I travel I do what my mother told me not to do - I talk to strangers. While I was in South Carolina, I talked to a couple of nice people I met along the way, and I got to ask them about their experience living through major hurricanes. Apparently, Matthew was pretty bad. The gentleman I talked to (coincidentally a retired agency owner!) told me he chose to ride it out because it seemed like the storm would turn out to sea and miss them. As luck would have it, Matthew still hit the South Carolina coast. It was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall. My new friend told me he would not stick around to witness a Category 2 storm. The next friendly stranger I met was a transplant from the Jersey Shore. He was a retired police captain who relocated to South Carolina two years prior. He
also worked emergency response during Sandy. I particularly liked his memorable quote about Super Storm Sandy. He said "I don't buy it when people call it a Tropical Storm - it was a hurricane!" Some folks I talked to were around to witness Hurricane Hugo. In 1989 dollars, that storm caused $9.47 billion in damage. Hugo defied description and the destruction they witnessed was widespread and devastating. I came away from these conversations with a better for the power of Mother Nature. However, there was a consensus that these folks loved where they lived. I couldn't help myself. I asked each of them if their enthusiasm for the Carolina Coast was tempered by worry about the next big storm. They all tacitly acknowledged the risk, but it was clear they had no intention of leaving and would deal with the future - whatever it might bring.
Articles for you from Our Newsfeed
“To offset potential future losses and reduce the amount of risk carried by the program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has revealed that it is making several amendments to the way the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) works.”
”The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “patchwork quilt” of flood maps has coverage gaps and is obsolete in places, according to a recent study by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Nature Conservancy charity and the University of Bristol.”
“Last year’s record-breaking disasters—including hurricanes, wildfires and floods—were a reminder of how climate change and faulty development policies are colliding to create dangerous and costly outcomes for
the American public.”
Statistics from FEMA
Read Full Report
Tech Tip: Writing A New Flood Policy One of the great challenges writing a new flood policy - either private or through the NFIP, is arranging for payment. Banks often pay escrow billed policies a month prior to the effective date.
If you intend to replace an existing NFIP policy, you better make arrangements to do so well in advance. Cancellation rules are strict, and are complex enough to warrant their very own special section in the Flood Insurance Manual - Section 14 Cancellation/Nullification to be precise. I have learned some of my most valuable insurance lessons the hard way - through a bad experience that imprinted itself in my brain for future reference. If there is not a valid reason to cancel an NFIP policy, you will have to wait out the policy until either the rules change or the next renewal. Flood insurance requires specialized knowledge, but there are many resources available to make things less mystifying. The Write Your Own (WYO) Companies often have very good support personnel who can help you through difficult and/or confusing cases. Use them.
March Marketing Tip from Evan Our livelihood as insurance brokers relies in no small part on referrals. Flood insurance creates so much confusion - especially among property owners - that solving problems creates its own stream of referrals. I recently had a case where one property created two standard flood hazard determinations. I have to admit I had never seen that before. One vendor (preparer) determined the flood zone an AE. Unfortunately for the property owner, this was the zone determination that the bank was using. My own research suggested that this property was in an X zone. I was not surprised to find another vendor that labeled the flood zone for the very same property an X zone. Flood maps are created by human beings. That means that errors are going to happen. So how did I advise this property owner? If I wrote a Preferred Risk Policy based on the X zone, the bank may turn it down. I insisted that the property owner hire a surveyor. Since she and I were both sure there was an error that led to the AE zone determination, it made sense to hire the surveyor to assist this property owner get a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA). That way there would be verifiable proof of the corrected flood zone. I spent some time advising this insured. I admit I committed the cardinal sin of being an unpaid consultant. But a little good will can go a long way, and that's enough for me.
