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Hurricane Guide 2006

Don't shrug off risk of flooding

County emergency officials urge property owners to get flood insurance, no matter where they live.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published May 21, 2006

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[Times photo (2004): Murice RIvenbark]

Hurricane Jeanne flooded Lakeside Drive in Brooksville in fall 2004.

By JONATHAN ABEL

Times Staff Writer

When Hernando emergency management director Tom Leto looks at a map these days, he sees the county flooded with water.

"Everyone is in a flood zone," he said. "It just depends on the level of risk where you're located."

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita taught Leto a lot about the dangers posed by water, and this year, as he prepares for the 2006 hurricane season, he has made it his top priority to get out the word about flood insurance.

In two words: Get it.

"Flood insurance is required on mortgage holders within what FEMA refers to as the 100-year flood plain," Leto said. "There are areas, however, in every county that you are not required to have flood insurance, yet during a hurricane scenario" there could be severe water damage.

There's a white and green and orange and pink map on the county's emergency management Web site. It shows the evacuation zones for Category 1 through 5 hurricanes, and people who live in an evacuation zone, Leto said, should be concerned about flooding.

But even people who don't live in those evacuation zones should pay attention to the risk from water, he said.

Leto said that people who live near rivers, ponds or even at the bottom of hills where water tends to pool should think about getting flood insurance.

He singled out Hunters Lake, Lake Geneva and Lake Theresa.

Hernando's Emergency Management Department sent a flood insurance mailing to 90,000 property owners.

"Many of your homeowners just don't understand that hurricane insurance on their policy only covers damages from the winds of hurricanes. It does not cover damage associated with the water from hurricanes," Leto said. "Even wind-driven rain is a rider on many insurance policies."

The county is digitally remapping its flood zones to better reflect all the inland areas that are subject to inundation. That could lead to the designation of some new areas as flood zones.

"If you buy flood insurance now and you are designated a flood zone in the new maps," Leto said, "you get grandfathered in (at lower rates)."

At the moment, almost 4,000 property owners in Hernando have flood insurance, Leto said.

[Last modified May 19, 2006, 14:54:43]

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