House passes flood insurance relief bill

A bill passed last week by the House of Representatives could extend reduced insurance rates to thousands of Valley Stream homeowners in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s revised high-risk flood zone.

The Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011, which still needs Senate approval, gives residents an additional five years of lower premiums while phasing in higher rates. New flood maps created by FEMA, which went into effect in September 2009, put much of Valley Stream in the high-risk flood zone. Residents with federally backed mortgages were forced to buy flood insurance, and some faced annual premiums approaching $3,000.

After much uproar in Valley Stream and other communities across the U.S., FEMA officials announced that residents who were new to the high-risk zone would be able to renew their flood insurance plan at the Preferred Risk Policy rate in 2011 and 2012. The annual cost is about $400.

The bill passed on July 13, co-sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), provides for lower flood insurance rates for five years, beginning in 2013, when the Preferred Risk Policy rate availability ends. This was an amendment requested by McCarthy.

According to Jessica Montgomery, a spokeswoman for McCarthy, residents would be able to renew their policy in 2013 for 20 percent of what they would otherwise pay for flood insurance. The rate for those homeowners would then increase by no more than 20 percent each year, reaching full price after five years.

Montgomery said that the legislation would provide temporary relief to homeowners while other options are explored to remove all of Valley Stream from the high-risk zone. “It’s not that easy to just pull an entire area out of a flood zone,” she said. “We’re well aware that it’s the main thing that the community is looking for.”

Another amendment McCarthy had included in the bill requires FEMA officials to notify members of Congress when there are changes made to flood zones in their districts. That, McCarthy said, would allow representatives to let their constituents know about the changes ahead of time.

The Flood Insurance Reform Act also allows homeowners to make their flood insurance payments in installments, instead of making one upfront payment, the current requirement.

“This bill is essential in starting the process of addressing some of the problems the Valley Stream community is facing directly related to FEMA’s new flood zone maps, and in mitigating some of the costs,” said Assemblyman Brian Curran. He added that the “flawed maps” were created using “faulty data” — a Suffolk County engineering study that was used to create Nassau County’s maps.

Gibson was the area of Valley Stream most dramatically affected by the new flood maps, with a majority of homes south of Sunrise Highway included in the high-risk zone. Carol Crupi, who lives on Gibson Boulevard, said the House legislation is a start, but does not address the real issue: her and other residents’ belief that Valley Stream’s inclusion in the flood zone is erroneous.

“We should just be taken out,” Crupi said. “We shouldn’t be paying anything, whether it’s $300 or $3,000.”

Marc Tenzer, president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, hopes for the same result. The community of 811 homes in South Valley Stream is in the high-risk flood zone.

“This gives them time to investigate what other options there might be to get us out of the flood zone 100 percent,” Tenzer said of the House bill. “The goal is to get us out of the flood zone.”

Tenzer, who noted that a similar bill, written last year, failed to win approval before the session of Congress ended, said he hopes this year’s legislation will pass the Senate as well. Last week, village officials sent a letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, encouraging him to support the Flood Insurance Reform Act, noting the hardships the new flood maps have created for Valley Streamers. Curran said he would continue to lobby federal officials on behalf of the bill.

Mayor Ed Fare said that village officials have been taking steps to improve Valley Stream’s community rating, which reduces residents’ insurance rates if certain measures are taken by the local government. An “all-call” system will soon be in place, to let residents know of an impending emergency through phone calls, emails, text messages and other methods of electronic communication.

Fare said he agrees with residents that the community should be removed from the high-risk flood zone, but he added that the change can be made only at the federal level. The five-year extension of reduced rates would be a good first step, he said. “I think this gives us time now,” he concluded.