The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that Escambia County will retain its current rating as a CRS Class 6 community in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS). The NFIP's CRS is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community actions meeting the three goals of the CRS:
- Reduce flood damage to insurable property;
- Strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP, and
- Encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.
The floodplain management activities implemented by the County will continue to qualify flood insurance policy holders in the community for a 20 percent discount in the premium costs for NFIP policies issued or renewed in Special Flood Hazard Areas.
The announcement noted that Preferred Risk Policies are not eligible for the CRS discount. Also, standard rated flood insurance policies in certain zones are limited to a CRS discount of 10 percent. The rates for those zones already reflect significant premium reductions
The CRS rating for the community will automatically be renewed annually as long as compliance with NFIP floodplain management regulations continues.
A listing of CRS Communities and Their Classes for April 2015 can be found here.
For more information, contact the Office of Community and Media Relations at (850) 595-3476 and follow @MyEscambia on Twitter.
