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Your chances of being flooded are much greater than some other risks you face daily. If you live in a 100-year floodplain, there is more than a 1 in 4 chance that you will be flooded during your 30-year mortgage. During a 30-year mortgage period you are 27 times more likely to experience a flood than having a fire.
| Event |
% chance of happening duringthe next year |
| 25-year flood |
4 chances in 100 |
Involved in a
car accident |
3 chances in 100 |
| Some form of cancer |
3 chances in 100 |
| Victim of larceny |
2 chances in 100 |
| 50-year flood |
2 chances in 100 |
| Victim of burglary |
1 chance in 100 |
| Injured in a car accident |
1 chance in 100 |
| 100-year flood |
1 chance in 100 |
| Victim of auto theft |
1 chance in 300 |
Victim of
aggravated assault |
1 chance in 500 |
| Victim of robbery |
1 chance in 1,000 |
| Residential fire |
4 chances in 10,000 |
| Killed in car accident |
3 chances in 10,000 |
Source:
Floods and Your Family brochure,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
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Understanding the "100-year floodplain" |
The first thing you need to know about the concept of a 100-year floodplain is that it is based on a statistical probability needed by the insurance industry as a standard upon which to base policies. Both the federal government and the private sector assist the insurance industry in gathering scientific measurements that are then used to generate a “*best guess” of stream flow peaks over a time. All this information goes into a formula/statistical model that generates elevations on tracts of land throughout a watershed that have “one-in-one hundred chance (1 percent) of occurrence of flooding in any given year, or a "return period" of once every 100 years.”
100-year floodplains are not arbitrary but they are:
1. Limited to the “best information at the time"
2. Not a determination of where and how frequently actual flood damage will occur.
3. Subject to change
*We say “best guess” for several reasons, chiefly that streamflow data has only been collected for a maximum period of 150 years (much less in many areas) which is a small sampling in the context of regional weather patterns and actual flood events.
Read more
The "100-Year Flood" USGS Fact Sheet: http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/FS/FS-229-96/
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- Properties can also be at higher or lower risk within a floodplain depending where in the floodplain they are located. For example, one house in the 25-year floodplain may flood 2 feet deep during a storm, but their neighbor deeper in the floodplain may flood 6 feet deep.
- If you are a typical homeowner, living in a single-story $100,000 home, without a basement, you can expect to suffer the following damages to your house and contents:
1 foot of water = $14,000
3 feet of water = $27,000
Also add the cost of cleanup of mud and residue.
Source: Floods and Your Family brochure, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Myths:
- Floods only happen to other people.
- It has never flooded here, so it never will.
- There was a flood problem, but it has been fixed.
- If flooding were a problem, someone would have told us. That's why we pay taxes.
- It's only water. It's no big deal to be flooded.
- The government will bail me out.
- My homeowner's policy will cover any flood damage.
- We just had a "100-year flood", so my family will be safe from future floods for the rest of their lives.
- Facts:
- We can't predict when floods will occur, but we can usually tell where they will occur.
- Just because it hasn't flooded in the past doesn't mean it won't in the future.
- Just because you had a flood does not mean it won't happen again soon.
- FLoods are caused by weather conditions and are unpredictable. If the conditions are right, floods will occur again.
- It is almost impossible to "fix" a flood problem.
- Real estate agents usually don't know whether flooding has ever occurred on the property.
- Government assistance after a flood is usually limited to loans which have to be repaid. Who needs a second mortgage?
- Figuring out how to cope with a flood is your responsibility.
Source: Floods and Your Family brochure, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Federal Disaster Assistance vs. Flood Insurance
http://www.fema.gov/nfip/know.htm
- Costs and Risks
http://www.fema.gov/nfip/flood.htm
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