The catastrophic flooding in Louisiana’s Florida parishes should remind Panola residents that approval of a revised FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is pending.
Once it is finally adopted, some property owners, especially in Batesville, who were not required to buy flood insurance for their property under the old rate map will be required to buy it.
Don’t let the new map, scheduled to become final in January, catch you by surprise. Even though approval has been pending for six years, it will finally take effect. When it does, flood insurance will become more expensive in some locations than it is now.
But for now flood insurance can be purchased for any Panola property at the rates determined by the old, 1989 Flood Insurance Rate Map. That purchase will provide coverage until the policy’s anniversary date when new rates will apply.
Batesville City Engineer Blake Mendrop reminded us of another consideration for homeowners. Many, many victims of last week’s flooding in Louisiana did not have flood insurance because they were not required to. Those people will be waiting for loans and other assistance from FEMA and the Small Business Administration that will likely take longer and cover far less than a FEMA flood insurance policy.
Anyone can buy flood insurance. For many Louisiana flood victims, last week’s deluge was second “1,000 year” rainfall event in six months. Climatologists are now projecting that conditions are favorable for spawning more of these torrential rain systems in the Gulf of Mexico with more catastrophic loss of life and property.
In Batesville, if you live near Sand Creek that runs through the middle of town or any of its tributaries, you might one day be glad you bought flood insurance for your home. For that matter, if you live in a creek bottom anywhere in this county you should consider it. It doesn’t matter if your family has lived on the site for 75 years and it has never once flooded, a rain system pours down as much water in as short a time as that in Louisiana last week could have you tearing away soggy sheetrock.