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  1. #1
    imported_John Smith's Avatar
    imported_John Smith Guest

    Default New Houston Flood Plain Maps

    I was talking with an agent the other day about the "new" Houston flood plain maps. Apparently there are a significant number of properties that are now in the flood plain that werent previously based on the old maps. The cost of flood insurance has doubled or tripled for many people, and Im sure it is going to lower the value of their property. Apparently if individual home owners want to have an individual elevation survey performed on their property, they could get back into "preferred flood insurance" status providing they meet the minimum elevation requirements. Does anyone know anything more about this, and if the individual surveys have proven to be effective, as in proving the LIDAR mapping inaccurate.


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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Fletcher, NC
    Posts
    28,032

    Default Re: New Houston Flood Plain Maps

    Quote Originally Posted by imported_John Smith View Post
    Apparently if individual home owners want to have an individual elevation survey performed on their property,
    They should already have one. It's called an Elevation Certificate, and it is issued by the surveyor.

    Every time a home is sold, it is surveyed, the house (hopefully) never moves, the same elevation numbers should apply from Day 1 through today (unless there is a volcano or sink hole under the house raising or lowering the house).

    What does change the flood plain maps, though, is updating do to construction. What used to be water runoff / discharge areas have now been filled in and are new subdivisions, so ... where does all that water go? Nowhere slowly ... which now causes flooding in areas where flooding never was a problem.

    That's just one of the reasons for flood plain map changes.

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Spring Hill (Nashville), TN
    Posts
    5,851

    Default Re: New Houston Flood Plain Maps

    I lived in Houston from 1973 to 1986 and if I recall the highest point in town was around 50' above sea level and that was ground height and not the freeway overpass!

    Houston has always flooded and it will continue to flood, so it really should be all that much of a shock to folks. As for flood insurance, it is cheaper than homeowners.

    Scott Patterson, ACI
    Spring Hill, TN
    www.traceinspections.com

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