As the current fashion in my community is wearing waders and we are all adding “Sandbagger – June 2008” to our resumes, I thought it was time to briefly discuss the flood information available on-line and through local resources. The recent flooding tragedies in our state are simply unbelievable, with homes being torn from their foundation, major highways being closed and more basements being flooded than ever before in our history, the physical and financial toll on our communities are just in the infancy stage.As the current fashion in my community is wearing waders and we are all adding “Sandbagger – June 2008” to our resumes, I thought it was time to briefly discuss the flood information available on-line and through local resources. The recent flooding tragedies in our state are simply unbelievable, with homes being torn from their foundation, major highways being closed and more basements being flooded than ever before in our history, the physical and financial toll on our communities are just in the infancy stage. In looking to the future, I wanted to provide some guidance on how prospective property owners can discern whether the property being purchased may be a low-level property or a property designated as within the 100 or even 500 year flood plain levels. In performing such due diligence, prospective property owners can look to:
· Flood Certification letters: The County or local municipality can issue a “flood certification letter” identifying whether the property is located within the FEMA mapped flood hazard areas in the community. The FEMA maps are used by numerous interested parties, including local communities and builders in planning and regulating new construction (including regulating foundation type and lowest floor elevation) and lenders in determining whether flood insurance is required. Typically if a lender is involved in the transaction, and the property being purchased is either an improved property or the loan is for construction on vacant land, the lender will order and obtain a flood certification letter. If the lender is not obtaining the flood certification letter (for reasons including that the property is vacant land) the prospective owner may consider contacting the county or local municipality to receive a flood certification letter.
Note – even if the property is located within an area mapped by FEMA as a flood hazard area that does not mean that flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NIFP) is available. In order to be eligible for flood insurance through the NIFP the local community must participate in the program. If the local community does not participate in the program, then federally backed flood insurance not available; flood insurance may be available through other private means. For more information on federally backed flood insurance follow this link: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/fq_gen.shtm#3
· GIS (Geographic Information Services) Maps: Wisconsin appears to be ahead of curve with most counties in Wisconsin maintaining geographic information on the internet and available to the public at no cost. The information compiled is used in land use planning, zoning and other applications and depending on the county will include environmental data showing flood plain and wetland locations, along with information about the current owner, real estate tax information, aerial photographs, parcel identification information (including subdivision text, easements lines, tax parcel number) and zoning information. A great place to start is with the following website which includes links to all of the Wisconsin counties with interactive web-mapping sites: http://coastal.lic.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ims/wisconsin-ims.htm (this web-site is available through a cooperative venture among the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison). Play around on the GIS site for your own home – if you are not already using this tool it will soon be at the top of your list.
My heart goes out to those suffering from the floods.