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August 31, 2007
Do I need Flood Insurance
I have a house in Northern Park Slope, I am wondering if I need flood insurance. I am getting a lot of pitches from insurance companies but not sure how necessary that is. Any thoughts?
Thank you.
Comments
what part of nth slope (btw what aves)? I would be surprised if you needed it because if you really did, my impression is that the insurance cos would be less likely to pitch it...
Posted by: guest at August 31, 2007 1:19 PM
I am on Butler between 4th and 5th Avenues.
Posted by: shalman at August 31, 2007 2:42 PM
If you own, your mortgage lender would have required it if you need it. If not, take a look at http://www.pshark.com/mason/nyc/index.html Put in your address, and you can find out where you are on the 100-year-flood plain. On a related note, if you have a basement, don't put anything down there until you've seen what it looks like after a big rain storm (for example, if there was no water down there after the "tornado" storm a few weeks back, you're good to go).
Posted by: ProfRobert at August 31, 2007 5:26 PM
If mine said 0.17 miles on the flood plain for our house, what does that mean? We got flood insurance anyway, but I'm just curious to know what this number represents. Thanks Prof Robert.
We ourselves did get a little water, not much, during the tornado storm under the back basement door but that's because water comes through our hatch which we're addressing. Knock on wood, there's no water coming in the foundation anymore.
Posted by: guest at September 1, 2007 9:10 AM
What matters is elevation. Look about four blocks in the direction to the flood plane. If it looks level then you should try to get flood insurance, if the difference in elevation is 10 feet or more don't worry about flood insurance.
The maps are not very accurate, they can be several feet off in elevation as we learned from the New Orleans disaster. This can mean a great deal on generally level ground and not much if you live on a hill. The maps only chart "once in a 100 year" storms, which really mean, "in the last 100 years flood levels would only have exceeded this level once." Since a rise in global average temperatures of a few degrees would place the Gulf of Mexico in Ohio we don't really know what the next 100 years hold. It depends a lot on how quickly we stop burning coal and driving Suburbans; we've already risen about a degree Fahrenheit which may mean that "once in a hundred years" is "once in 20 years" now.
Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 12:44 AM
try http://www.floodsurant.com
Posted by: guest at October 23, 2007 4:20 AM
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