Do you remember Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans?  If you recall, New Orleans is built below sea level.  After that event, Congress passed a law that greatly increased the price of obtaining Flood Insurance and enforced lending institutions to require a borrower to be covered by adequate flood insurance.  As a result, whether you are financing a new home, refinancing a current home or applying for a home equity loan, you will be required to obtain flood insurance if your property is located within a designated flood zone.

Obviously, each location is different.  The extent of flooding will be different and therefore the degree of risk to the insurance company will vary.  A Flood Elevation Certificate can be completed by a Surveyor to quantify that degree of risk.

The Surveyor will come to the site and determine the elevation above sea level at the location.  Measurements will be taken at the highest and lowest grade along the building wall.  Measurements will also be taken on the first and second floor.  Note that the basement or crawl space is considered the first floor. If neither of those exist, the concrete slab will be considered the first floor.  Additional, applicable measurements will also be observed depending on the given situation.

The Surveyor then compares those measurements to the Flood Study published by FEMA for that Community (Municipality), to determine what the published Base Flood Elevation (BFE) for the given location is. The Elevation Certificate can then be sent to your insurance company to determine the annual rate of flood insurance for your individual location.