When will FEMA get it?

An Aug. 31 meeting at Village Hall finally gave Valley Stream residents their chance to meet face to face with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which changed the flood plain maps and put thousands of local residents into high-risk flood zones.

Along with their new status came insurance premiums that, for some, top $2,000 a year. Many residents bought their flood insurance before the new maps went into effect last September, and were shocked when they received policy renewals with premiums five times higher than a year ago. Others felt sucker-punched when their mortgage company sent them a bill and required payment in full in less than a month.

We are glad that Valley Stream residents finally got to confront the source of the problem, and we thank Councilman Jim Darcy for arranging the meeting. It was evident two weeks ago that FEMA representatives, having to defend decisions likely made at a higher level, were unprepared for the anger of some residents, who are already hurting financially and have reached the breaking point with the new insurance premiums.

Numerous answers were offered in FEMA jargon, while others demonstrated an evident lack of concern for the hardships people were facing. It was also clear that FEMA does not understand the concept of “grandfathering.”

Many residents chose to buy insurance before the new maps went into effect on Sept. 11, 2009. They paid a premium of $388 for the year, which many acknowledged was a reasonable price. They said they had been told that if they purchased the insurance before the deadline, they would be grandfathered in at the old rates.

Not true, said one FEMA official. The homeowner would only be grandfathered into their old zone — B, C or X — not the new high-risk AE zone. But once the new flood maps went into effect, those who were added to the high-risk zone would lose their preferred-risk status. Sounds like a change in zone to us, even if the letter stayed the same. If the change in flood maps affects the flood insurance premium rate, how is that not a change in the zone? And how does that constitute being grandfathered in?