Does anyone have any info on the current status of FEMA's Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps? The ones for our area were released last year and according to the website it typically will take 18-24 months for them to adopted.

Also is anyone concerned about what this will do to your flood insurance rates? It looks like many areas of downtown Jersey City that previously were not in the flood zone will be in the AE flood zone once the new maps are adopted. (Flood insurance can be thousands of dollars a year and most people who have mortgages are required to buy it.)

You can look up your address on the Preliminary FIRM at http://www.region2coastal.com/sandy/table

Or through FEMA's user unfriendly site at http://www.fema.gov/view-your-communi ... inary-flood-hazard-data-0

Additionally, seems like areas of downtown Jersey City that are currently in the AE flood zone will see their Base Flood Elevation go from 9 ft to 11 ft. This 2 foot difference will probably have a significant impact on your flood insurance rate (more expensive).

Also has anyone received any relief by way of the Homeowners Flood Insurance Affordability Act or heard any info about this from their insurance agent? Recently got a +$4k increase on top of the cost of the elevation cert, but I understand there should be some kind of refund coming (eventually).

Thanks everyone for the help and information.

As an update - Neither the Zoning or Planning office had the information needed.

I found the below company, which charges $400.

Statewide Surveying & Land Dev
217 Tonnele Ave,

Jersey City, NJ 07306
(201) 656-6899

Irrespective of the map, they will still need a surveyor to certify if they are above the 100 year flood elevation. The map is a guide, but does not reflect building conditions, like a basement or a raised first floor.

Quote:

Grossly overstated in the HP area for Sandy. Not even during Irene was flooding that bad between Brunswick and HP. FEMA's map isn't based on Sandy, but FEMA revised the base flood elevation after Sandy for insurance purposes, to represent a 50 and 100-year flood risk. Idiots at the newspapers took the new FEMA map to mean actual flooding during Sandy, and not the intended 50/100 year risk going forward.

A better representation for Sandy is around the 3m level in this map for Sandy, and under 4m for Irene. I don't know of anyone north of 5th and west of Brunswick that had flooding other than in their basements during both Sandy and Irene, and during Sandy it was pretty minor.

http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/new-york.shtml

Here?s the FEMA map if anyone is interrested. Just zoom in and re-center on your location of interest.

My personal observations during and immediately after Sandy confirmed that this was fairly accurate for the VanVorst and Hamilton Park areas.

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S244940t0KZ

If there is one on file for your property, it will be with the zoning department. It is probably out of date though since the FEMA flood maps were revised last year.

Try calling and see:

Division of Zoning Enforcement

30 Montgomery Street
Room 408
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Tel: (201) 547-4832
Fax: (201) 547-5145

If not there, then you have to go to a licensed surveyor.

So nobody has an idea who the "community floodplain manager" mentioned in the FEMA document Grovepath linked to might be?

Robin.

That is the best way to do it.

If you have a condo, and are not on the first floor, you are almost assuredly above the flood plain. If you are the ground floor, or own a house/brownstone, you may have issues if you are east of Grove and south of York. or maybe even Columbus. But even in that zone, you may be in luck if you don't have a basement, since your ground floor may be raised enough to be above the 100 year flood plain.

A professional surveyor is the way to go in either case. And if you are on an upper floor, you may want to look at getting supplemental coverage for "ordinance of law", so that you can recover if your building is damaged to the point that you are not allowed to re-occupy, even if water never touched your unit.

We used Pinpoint surveying to complete our Elevation Certificate a couple years ago. Don't know if they're still around, but they were friendly and did the work in the manner & timeframe promised.

Good luck.

Pinpoint Surveying, LLC
79 Elm St
Montclair, NJ 07042
973-751-5036

When I last checked, the City floodplain maps were based on estimates, not actual measurements. I doubt you will have any luck through the City, unless we can convince the City to pay for a City survey (which may not be a bad idea).

Spoke to my insurance person yesterday and they said that come renewal time pretty much everyone downtown is going to need to get this document...has anyone done it yet? (or gone the free route through the city) we tried to get additional flood insurance on our condo but this was what stopped us as no one could tell us who to call/how to get this document

Thanks Grovepath.

So who is our "community floodplain manager"?

Robin.

I received notice from my flood insurance that they will not renew without an Elevation Certificate for Flood Insurance.

Has anyone had experience with this? Can I obtain this from City Hall or do I need to hire someone?

Thanks for the help.