On February 18, 2005, the Federal flood insurance requirement was
removed from more than 50,000 properties in the American River
floodplain. See map at the SAFCA (Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency) website.
Affected property owners received a
mail packet from SAFCA, dated February 18, 2005. If you did not receive one of these packets from SAFCA,
please click here to find out more.
The removal of this requirement is the direct result of flood control improvements to the American and Sacramento River levee systems. These improvements were funded, in part, by an assessment that Sacramento property owners approved in 2000.
Despite the lifting of this flood insurance requirement, the potential for a flood disaster remains an unpredictable threat to public safety. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) warns that over the life of a 30-year mortgage, property owners in areas like the American River floodplain can expect an approximately 26% chance of flooding.
With this in mind, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State Department of Water Resources urge property owners, who have been removed from the flood insurance requirement, to maintain their flood insurance protection.
Most of these property owners can now do this and significantly reduce the cost of their flood insurance by switching to a Preferred Risk flood insurance policy.
Preferred Risk Policies (PRPs) cost about half the price of regular, or
Standard, flood insurance and are sold by most insurance agents.
To get a PRP, property owners will need to work directly with their
insurance agent and, in some cases, their lender. Click
here for more information on Preferred Risk Policies at the SAFCA web site.
For the first time in 15 years, many Sacramento property owners will decide for themselves whether or not to carry flood insurance. SAFCA urges these property owners to carefully review the information found at their website www.safca.org before making this decision.
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Reasons to Maintain Your Flood Insurance Protection
- Levees Do Not Guarantee Your Safety. Sacramento
is protected by levees that can still be overtopped or collapse
in violent winter storms.
- Homeowners Insurance Does Not Cover Damage Caused
by a Flood. If your property should flood, repairs may cost more
than 50% of the value of your building or home.
- Ruined in a Day. Flood loss can wipe out in a
day your most important investment: your home.
- Low-Cost Flood Insurance Is Now Available to Most Property
Owners Who Have Been Removed from the Flood Insurance Requirement.
See How to Get a Low-Cost Preferred
Risk Flood Insurance Policy.
- Nature Is Unpredictable. Engineers can estimate
the chance that a major flood will hit Sacramento. But nature
is always changing and the engineers' estimates must adjust.
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