Month: May 2021

Following Hurricane Harvey one of the projects the District identified that could enhance response during future highwater events was construction of an emergency operations/personnel bunkhouse. During Harvey when it was necessary for the District’s operations team to be onsite continuously, they operated out of the District’s storage building which at the time had no air conditioning or bathroom facilities. To provide improved conditions for future events, the District has drawn up plans for a 600 square foot operations/personnel bunkhouse to be located adjacent to the District’s existing storage building. The building will include kitchen, bathing and laundry facilities with room for up to four personnel to sleep as well space for monitoring the status of emergency operations. The exterior of the building will be brick with standing seam metal roof matching the current storage building. Construction should begin later this summer.

Bunk House Elevation Diagram (PDF)

On April 1st, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) released the first official communication on the redesign of the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”)’s rating system.

The new pricing methodology, known as Risk Rating 2.0, utilizes the latest technology available to assess the flood risk of a property. Phase 1 of the new program begins on October 1, 2021.

In its announcement, FEMA shared a state-by-state breakdown of Risk Rating 2.0’s impact on flood insurance premiums. According to FEMA, Texas will see the following impact:

• 14% of Texas residents with an existing flood insurance policy will see an immediate decrease in their flood insurance premium;
• 79% of Texas residents with an existing flood insurance policy will see an immediate increase in their flood insurance premium that could range from $0 to $10 per month;
• 3% of Texas residents with an existing flood insurance policy will see an immediate increase in their flood insurance premium of $10 to $20 per month; and
• 4% of Texas residents with an existing flood insurance policy will see an immediate increase in their flood insurance premium greater than $20 per month.

We do not yet know how Risk Rating 2.0 will impact flood insurance prices in First Colony LID No. 2. However, if you already have flood insurance, you are grandfathered into how fast your flood insurance premium can increase. It is federally mandated that a flood insurance premium cannot increase by more than 18% per year. Therefore, we encourage you to get flood insurance. You can do so by contacting your home insurance provider. Since a flood insurance policy takes 30 days to go into effect, you must purchase your policy by September 1, 2021, for your policy to become effective prior to the effective date of Risk Rating 2.0 (October 1, 2021).

Additional information regarding risk rating 2.0 can be found at the following link: Risk Rating 2.0: Equity in Action | FEMA.gov