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#Post#: 312--------------------------------------------------
Flood Insurance coverage depends on knowing where Embankment
Dams are located
DIR By: Doug K
Date: March 8, 2019, 11:17 am
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If folks haven't figured it out.. many of our local residential
neighborhoods have been built along the Erie Canal Embankments
through the years. Now it has come to light that perhaps many of
these neighborhoods might have been better off in "other
locations" as it's been uncovered by the ECNA that scores &
scores of homes are located at the base of some very long,
fairly tall, Earthen Embankment Dams that hold water IN the Erie
Canal.
The Erie Canal itself is a FEMA recognized Flood Zone with an A1
rating...it loses less than 1% of it's water through leaking or
flooding annually... and many culvert areas along it's length
also share FEMA flood ratings. Those ratings result in many Erie
Canal Neighbors having to pay for mandatory Homeowners's Flood
Insurance, purchased nationally through FEMA.
But will all Erie Canal Neighbors have to pay for required Flood
Insurance soon?
The Embankment Dams that string together to help create the
Erie are all in need of repair, and part of a recent Earthen
Embankment Integrity Program started by the NY Power Authority
and NY Canal Corporation. The Erie's embankment dams, long
"grandfathered" in to the DEC books and FEMA records, are now
being cleared, "de-rooted", and will have grassy covering when
completed, will now start to look like the Dams they have been
all these years. They were hidden under dangerous overgrowth and
years of mis-handled routine maintenance by both the NYDOT and
NYS Thruway Authority, both prior owners of the NY Canal
Corporation.
The new owners NY Power Authority (NYPA) are making things
right, both for the Erie Canal with it's National Heritage
designation, AND for the safety of the public and communities
that use the Erie canal and live along it as it winds across New
York State. NYPA and the NYCC have also recently started calling
these Embankments by their proper term Dams only recently as a
result of their new efforts towards safety.
The word DAM was stricken from the Canal Corporation by it's
prior owners for years, for cost savings reasons. That is all
behind them now.
So.. where are the Dams? Right beside many neighborhoods who
can't see them.. it's an issue with too many trees in the way.
Here's a recent post on the ECNA forum showing 3-4 dams in
Perinton area... these are all dams, some are raised longer
embankment sections while others hold back larger bodies of
water like a lake. If you want an example of something "hiding
in plain site" read this.
HTML https://ecna.createaforum.com/general-discussion/i-think-it's-all-a-huge-cover-up/?message=308
So folks here's a few questions anyone who lives next to or
below the waterline of the Erie Canal should be asking:
1) How long before the NY DEC steps in to start measuring dams,
naming dams and getting these "new" dams added to the NY State
Registry of Dams?
2) How long before FEMA notices the changes and comes to take a
look, and possibly reclassify some areas based on current state?
3) How did all of this happen without our Town or Village
officials even taking note of what was happening below these
dams?
As a homeowner, living next to the Erie Canal, the fact that we
now live below a Dam is one thing... add insult to injury by
making me pay for Flood Insurance isn't going to sit well...
it's the stuff of Class Action litigation in most cases.
If you are concerned about this too, it's time to start getting
together to insure that making the Erie Canal Embankments SAFER,
by having the NY Canal Corporation do the necessary repair work,
should result in NO NEED for mandatory Flood Insurance through
the NFIP & FEMA.
Post a reply if you agree, join as an ECNA member to help steer
the discussion and decision to not penalize the Erie Canal
Neighbors for the negligence of others... including past owners.
#Post#: 314--------------------------------------------------
Re: Flood Insurance coverage depends on knowing where Embankment
Dams are located
DIR By: guest18
Date: March 9, 2019, 8:15 pm
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An embankment blowout would create deviatating damages to
property. The federal government has really tightened the
regulations imposed on mortgage lenders to be the enforcement of
making sure homes that are leveraged with a mortgage or a HELOC
and are located in a flood zone. The fines have increased
substantially for these lenders for not policing properly. The
problem for the federal government is that when there is a
flooding disaster, they (via FEMA) are the ones writing checks
to the uninsured.
With all that being said, NFIP (National Flood Insurance
Program) is not your only option for flood insurance. My agency
works with other specialty flood insurance carriers that most of
the time can provide better coverage at a better rate than the
NFIP. Since the NFIP is a government manager insurance
provider, they have to take all flood risks....if you live on
the coast or the edge of the Mississippi or in Monroe County,
NY. The specialty carriers I work with are private companies
and they have the right to decline risks, so they are able to
avoid insuring flood insurance for coastal properties or those
along the Mississippi.
I’d be happy to talk with anyone about this. Maybe I could help
your family better understand and manager your risks and also
better help manage the expense of your insurance.
Thanks,
Jake Conkling
Owner/Agent
Fairport Insurance Agency
Spencerport Insurance Agency
585-363-2932
#Post#: 315--------------------------------------------------
Re: Flood Insurance coverage depends on knowing where Embankment
Dams are located
DIR By: Michael Caswell
Date: March 10, 2019, 3:15 am
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I'd be very interested to know what this insurance would cost
the average homeowner. Can you supply some examples?
Although my property has a FEMA flood zone running across it,
it's on the opposite side of the canal to these embankments and
with a flood risk of zero, so probably not a good example.
#Post#: 316--------------------------------------------------
Re: Flood Insurance coverage depends on knowing where Embankment
Dams are located
DIR By: Doug K
Date: March 10, 2019, 12:41 pm
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Hi all,
Very early on in this Erie Canal Embankment Repair effort it
became apparent to some of the many Erie Canal neighbors, that
what was happening in their backyards may have long reaching
affects. Especially when the NY Canal Corporation was talking
about unsafe earthen dams as the cause for this safety work.
When the property owner of the land says Unsafe Dams...
neighboring homeowners have to wonder if the need Flood
Insurance... right?
The ECNA jumped right into understanding FEMA, Flood Zones
Ratings, and if the National Flood Insurance Program, NFIP for
short, was going to be something that would come under
discussion for neighbors along the waterway We even put this
Forum Board up to start that discussion. Local insurance
companies were contacted and costs were investigated, but no one
had the answer if this canal embankment work would result in
"mandatory" needs for Flood Insurance.
You see, once you start opening up the FEMA discussion some
striking facts arise... here's a few:
1) The Erie Canal itself, the waterway, has a FEMA flood rating
of A1. Not the areas along it's earthen dams, or the areas lower
than the waterline, the actual Erie Canal waterway has a Flood
Zone Rating.. cause in essence it is a flooded area that is
contained. A quick look at FEMA Flood Zone maps shows this
rather unique fact.
Here's a link to A Flood Zone Ratings -
HTML https://www.fema.gov/zone-ae-and-a1-30
2)There are many streams & creeks that pass under the Erie Canal
using cement culverts or old metal pipes. The areas around many
of these culverts also carry a FEMA Flood Zone Rating that
requires neighboring properties to get mandatory flood insurance
due to an increased potential for flooding. So there are already
many Erie Canal neighbors who may be paying for NFIP already, or
have their own policy.
3) FEMA, just like many Erie Canal neighbors & the surrounding
community, will be seeing the Erie Canal mbankment Dams cleared
off for the very first time ever. FEMA is only 40 years old this
April, the Erie Canal is 200 years old, the newer NYS Barge
Canal turned 100 in 2018. There are few people alive that have
actually seen clear, safe canal embankments, it has been years &
years since anything close to this has been done.
Go and take a look at the History of FEMA here:
HTML https://www.fema.gov/about-agency
So the real question is this...Do we believe that FEMA will
simply ignore these newly cleared dams along the Erie Canal?
FLOOD INSURANCE COST ESTIMATES:
About a year ago we checked on Flood Insurance pricing, both
FEMA based and private. What we found was unsettling. If you are
NOT required by FEMA Flood Zone mapping to have Flood Insurance
the cost was typically about 2X times the current cost of the
home's insurance price. If you pay $600 now, adding a Flood
"rider" would result in a new cost of $1200 annually.
Now, if that same homeowner's property was in a FEMA zone,
making coverage mandatory, the cost could rise some 2x-4X that
of "non-mandatory" areas. So that $600 policy now could balloon
to $2400 depending on FEMA Zone rating, or the properties
elevation to the potential flood source. It get's complicated
and choices get limited so that many only have the option of the
National Flood Insurance program.
FEMA-NFIP Information:
HTML https://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program
WHAT'S NEXT:
Since the NY Canal Corporation has now created a method to deal
with it's current issue surrounding canal embankment dam safety,
the essence of it's Earthen Embankment Integrity Program (EEIP),
it's hard to believe that their OWN Erie cacanal Flood Zone will
be negatively impacted. Making the Embankment System safer, by
making these Dams compliant to FEMA and US Army Corp standards
should actually help the argument against changing any FEMA
ratings, or having this EEIP work result in any NEW FEMA Flood
Zones being identified.
Making the Erie Canal safer though EEIP, is in the direction of
goodness, and should be viewed that way.
Hopefully those who live adjacent to or below these dams will be
able to hear soon, that there is zero affect from the removal of
vegetation on the dams that will result in a need for Flood
Insurance.
Hopefully the NY Canal Corp and NY DEC can convince FEMA, if
they come calling, that matters are well in hand, the safety
factor is being improved along the Erie Canal and there is no
reason to make any changes to flood zone ratings.
Of course... that will be a hard argument to make for those who
are still living under vegetation covered earthen dams east of
Rochester.
Something to consider if you plan to keep fighting to leave
these unsafe Embankment Dams in your community or in your
backyard.
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