City of Sacramento Floodplain Information Line (916) 808-5061
Sacramento County Flood Zone Information Hotline
(916) 874-7517
Please note: Automated phone systems answer the City and County numbers shown above. When you call these numbers, a recorded message will ask you to leave information that will help City or County staff to check the current flood risk to your property. In most cases, City and County staff can check the flood risk to your property and get back to you within 48 hours. However, high caller volume may delay their response to your request. |
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Troubleshooting
PROBLEM: After reviewing Map: Flood Risk in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area on this website, you find that your home or building is located in an area with a moderate risk of flooding. You understand that most property in these moderate risk zones qualifies for low-cost, Preferred Risk flood insurance. So, you contact your insurance agent and ask to purchase a Preferred Risk Policy (PRP). However, your agent says your home has not been removed from the Federal flood insurance requirement and therefore is not eligible for a PRP. What do you do?
ISSUE: Lenders and insurance agents rely on Flood Insurance Rate Maps to determine whether flood insurance is required for your property. These maps are prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local flood control authorities.
On February 18, 2005, FEMA issued new Flood Insurance Rate Maps for portions of the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County. These maps moved more than 50,000 properties from high to moderate risk flood zones.
While most of these properties now qualify for low-cost, Preferred Risk flood insurance, a few agents and lenders continue to rely on flood zone information from out-dated Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
A problem occurs when these out-dated maps show a high risk of flooding in areas that have been rezoned, on current Flood Insurance Rate Maps that reflect improvements to local levees, to indicate a moderate flood risk. Again, lower cost flood insurance is only available for property that is located in moderate risk flood zones.
Thus, if the Map: Flood Risk in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area found on this website shows your property in a moderate risk zone, but your agent or lender says your property is still located in a high risk zone, you may want to do a little research of your own. This will help you determine whether your agent or lender is using flood zone information from out-date flood maps.
Please Note: While the composite flood risk map on this website shows the general level of flood risk across the Sacramento area, it does not take the place of the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps used by lenders and insurance agents.
SOLUTION:
Contact Local Flood Control Authorities: Local flood control authorities can check the location of your property on official Flood Insurance Rate Maps and provide you with documentation that shows whether your property is located in a high or moderate risk flood zone. Again, flood insurance is required for property located in high risk flood zones (AR, A99, AE zones) but is optional for most property located in moderate risk zones (B, C or X zones). Finally, low-cost, Preferred Risk flood insurance is available only in moderate risk flood zones.
To contact local flood control authorities:
If your property is located in the City of Sacramento, please phone the City's Floodplain Information Line at (916) 808-5061.
If your property is located in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County, please phone the County's Flood Zone Information Hotline at (916) 874-7517.
Please note: Automated phone systems answer the City and County numbers shown above. When you call these numbers, a recorded message will ask you to leave information that will help City or County staff to check the current flood risk to your property. In most cases, City and County staff can check the flood risk to your property and get back to you within 48 hours. However, high caller volume may delay their response to your request.
If the City or County finds that your property is located in a moderate risk flood zone, furnish your insurance agent with the documentation provided to you by the City or County and inform your agent that you would like purchase a low-cost Preferred Risk Policy. (Most people buy flood insurance from the same agent who writes their Homeowners policy.)
If you qualify for a Preferred Risk Policy, your extra work will be rewarded with flood insurance savings that, in Sacramento, average approximately $200 a year.
What to Do If Your Flood Insurance Policy Is about to Expire: Do not let your current flood insurance expire, even if your agent is having trouble converting it to a Preferred Risk Policy. FEMA advises property owners whose policies are about to expire to renew their current flood insurance then switch to a PRP.
Under Federal rules, if you renew a regular, or Standard, flood insurance policy after your property has been released from the flood insurance requirement, when you switch to a PRP you will receive a full two-year refund — the current year plus the previous year — of your flood insurance premium. However, if you allow your current flood insurance to lapse before converting to a PRP, you will not qualify for a flood insurance premium refund of any kind.
1 Under Federal law, your lender can continue to require flood insurance, even if your property has been removed from the Federal flood insurance requirement.
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