Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Amanda Milkovits
Journal Staff Writer

WOONSOCKET, RI -- More than 300 property owners who live downstream of the Blackstone River dam and levee will be required to buy flood insurance as of March 2, after new federal flood maps rated the region at high risk for flooding.

The problem is the condition of the city-owned levee, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes over next Thursday. The half-century old levee was one of 146 levees nationwide determined to be in fair, poor or unacceptable condition last year.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued revised flood insurance rate maps for Woonsocket -- effective on March 2 -- that expand the area considered to be at high risk for flooding. At least 200 properties have been listed in the high-risk area, said city engineer Ben Tavares. The high-risk designation means that these properties are at risk during a 100-year flood, a bit of a misnomer, as flooding events of that level occur more frequently.

The law requires property owners with federally backed mortgages to buy flood insurance if their property is at risk. Those who don't buy the insurance will still be billed -- the mortgage lender will purchase the flood insurance and charge it back to the property owner, at a much higher rate.

The state Emergency Management Agency is urging Woonsocket residents in the high risk area to save money by buying their flood insurance before March 2.

Those who purchase flood insurance before March 2 will be grandfathered-in at the rate for the low-risk zone, said state floodplain coordinator Michelle Burnett. After March 2, property owners in the new high-risk flood zone will end up with an insurance bill based on owning property in a high-risk flood zone, where the cost will be significantly higher.

For a list of properties affected by the change and for more information on the National Flood Insurance Program, visit the city's Web site: http://www.ci.woonsocket.ri.us/Flood.htm.

 Tags  flooding Woonsocket

Comments

Cheap waterfront property said:

What rocket scientist thought that building a public library on the banks of a river (which had already been flooded in his lifetime) would be a swell idea?

I guess this will be a good opportunity to buy waterfront property, cheap.

Link | January 23, 2009 6:46 PM
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mike said:

I just hope the premiums reflect the cost to rebuild the home if and when a flood occurs.
No more gov't subsidized premiums.

Link | January 26, 2009 11:41 AM
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