MARATHON, FL – Monroe County’s Community Rating System (CRS) Consultant Lori Lehr presented a Repetitive Flood Loss Area analysis and identified repetitive flood loss areas in unincorporated Monroe County at Wednesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. Unincorporated Monroe County needs to complete one more task to be eligible to move from a CRS class 5 to a class 4 designation saving flood insurance policy holders hundreds of dollars yearly.

The average annual savings per policy holder will go from $373/year to $448 per year if the County is successful in this effort. The total County savings annually would go from $5,317202 to $6,376,373. Deductions are based upon the individual property premiums. The recent Sea Level Rise Modeling of Drainage Infrastructure and Drainage Maintenance Plan along with the recently implemented Repetitive Loss Area Analysis (RLAA) that was presented at today’s meeting will potentially move the County to the new designation.

Since 2015, the County has moved from a Class 6 to a Class 5 with a 25 percent savings to insurance holders by correcting more than 300 findings in the original audit by FEMA. Monroe County is classified in “Good Standing” with the agency that controls the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and implementing programs that raise awareness of impending flood issues, as well as regulations that protect property and lives. Overall, the current designation has cumulatively saved flood insurance policy holders more than $19 million in the past five years.

“We would be the only class 4 in a coastal community and we would be in the presence of only two other class 4 designated counties in Florida,” said County Administrator Roman Gastesi. “This is a big deal.”

The RLAA plan is a detailed document that looks at repetitive and severe repetitive loss properties, including the claims from the last five major storms. There are 391 structures on 370 parcels with seven listed as severe repetitive loss properties. Since 1978, 2,374 homes have made a single NFIP claim. There are 60 repetitive loss areas that include 9,543 properties (with sites similarly situated in elevation and building type within these areas), which includes homes that do not have insurance or are raised above flood but still fall within the area.

In the summer of 2017 and again in the summer of 2019, brochures were sent to homeowners asking them to identify any flooding issues they have. Data was also collected from the Property Appraiser’s office and site visits to the right-of-way of properties to view the conditions of each structure.

“Just because your residence is in a repetitive loss area does not mean that your structure is at risk,” said Assistant County Administrator Christine Hurley. “It just means there are properties in that area that are at risk.”

The presentation, plan, risk areas, and additional information can be found at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/crs. The County is seeking public input on the draft plan and will be presenting the final plan for adoption at the Feb. 19, 2020 Board of County Commissioners meeting.

With the completion of the latest CRS resilience tasks, the County will submit the documentation to go through the rigorous review process this summer, with a target goal to be rated a class 4 by Oct. 1, 2020.

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