Flood zones and associated flood risk

Flood Plains refer to the areas around bodies of water that have a tendency for flooding. These areas are usually flat and have fertile land, thus making the land an ideal place to build upon in terms of agriculture and city development. Water is easily accessible in terms of transportation and for use in the city and farmlands. Thus  disregarding the danger and risk associated with these high-risk areas, these flood plains have been developed. But the government regulates these areas through the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, by mapping these areas in terms of different criteria, such as flood data collected over the years and elevation contours. The NFIP uses these maps and data to assign insurance rates in areas that fall in to these flood plains.

 

The way communities that fall into these high-risk areas are regulated is based on incentives given by the NFIP to these communities. NFIP uses the Community Rating 
System, or the CRS, as a way to encourage communities to do their best to protect themselves by classifying them based on whether they follow their certain regulations and lower them accordingly. There are 18 activities that the communities have to follow and these fall in to four categories: (i) Public Information, (ii) Mapping and Regulations, (iii) Flood Damage Reduction, and (iv) Flood Preparedness. After the communities have been assessed they are assigned a class from 1 to 10, 1 being the highest rating. If a community falls in the Class 1 category they may receive up to a 45% premium discount in their insurance rates, whereas a Class 9 rating would receive up to a 5% discount (a Class 10 community is a community that does not participate in the NFIP program). (FEMA, 2006)

 

             New Orleans has been divided into several flood zones, ranging from areas with low flood risk and areas with high risk. These zones classifications are assigned letters and areas with specific letter zones must complete different requirements. The FEMA zones that are prevalent in New Orleans are Zones B, V19, V16, A0-A8, A10, A13, and A14. Areas that are classified as Zone B areas are not required to have flood insurance. Areas that are classified as Zone A areas have to carry flood insurance because they have a high risk of flooding. The higher the number next to the letter (such as A6 or A10) signifies a higher risk of flooding. Areas that are classified as Zone V are coastal areas with a high risk of flooding and must also carry flood insurance. Again the higher the number next to the letter the higher the risk of flooding is in the area.

 

The majority of the other areas show a rating that requires flood insurance according to the NFIP, showing the magnitude of the problem that flooding presents in this area. (City of New Orleans, 2006)

 

Percentage of people that had NFIP and/or other types of insurance

 

A major problem faced by many citizens after the all the destruction and horror of Hurricane Katrina was the prospect of picking up the pieces of their lives and rebuilding. This led to the problem of dealing with the costs of rebuilding, which in turn led to insurance problems.

 

 According to estimates made soon after Katrina, the costs of uninsured losses have reached the $100 Billion mark, while costs of reimbursing people with insurance reached $34 Billion. (Baade, 2005)

 

 

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Pre-Hurricane Katrina Background

Flood Zones

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