Wacky world of flood insurance

In concept, federal flood insurance is a great thing.
In concept.
But if you live in the flatlands of the Midwest, there’s a good chance you’ll never collect a nickel even if you pay your premiums faithfully every year.
There’s also a good chance that you might be required to buy the insurance when you don’t need it while others who should be buying it won’t have to.
Confused? Welcome to the world of federal flood insurance.
The first bit of craziness stems from the fact that flood insurance specifies that it covers damages caused when a river or stream comes over its banks, not when storm sewers or combined sewers connecting to a river back up.
That second type of flooding is far more commonplace in the small town Midwest. Its damage can be just as devastating, but it’s not covered.
The second bit of craziness is that topographic federal flood plain maps cranked out by the government something like 35 years ago are not finely-tuned enough to reflect the realities of a largely flat landscape.
Topographic maps based upon elevation ranges of five feet or ten feet or even three feet won’t provide enough detail to tell you accurately what places will flood and what ones won’t when a community receives the kind of rain Portland and Fort Recovery did this week.
That’s why Portland’s maps show some neighborhoods as being in flood prone zones even though they’ve never flooded, while areas that always flood aren’t acknowledged on the map.
Does it make sense? Of course not. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]