This Gulf Breeze, Fla., house was damaged by the estimated 10-foot storm surge of Hurricane Ivan. Insurance rates increase for homes in high-risk flood zones. | FEMA
Collier County homeowners can check online to find out if their property sits in a high-risk flood zone with more expensive insurance rates.
The county held open houses with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help homeowners check the flood zone status of their property. Residents who missed the meetings can visit Collier County’s website to use the interactive FEMA Flood Map. By searching for a property’s address, homeowners can learn what type of flood zone covers their home.
“Florida is flat. We didn’t have a good topography or ground elevations back 40 years ago when we did the studies,” Mark Vieria, a FEMA project manager, recently told WINK News. “Now, we do, and we just have better data.”
Dottie Seber and her husband moved from Ohio to retire in Collier County 13 years ago. Whenever it rains, a grassy area behind their condo in East Naples floods.
“It can get pretty high. It becomes a lake. We’ve had ducks and catfish in there,” she told WINK News.
When Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida, Seber said she was relieved they didn’t get the worst of the storm’s effects.
”If we had the 15, 18-foot storm surge, our buildings could have been wiped out,” Seber said to WINK News.
Seber said they learned to expect higher premiums under the current map, which shows their home is in a high-risk flood zone.
In some cases, premiums may rise by hundreds of dollars.
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