About a year after I originally purchased my home, FEMA sent me a notice that they had updated their maps and decided I was in a flood zone and needed to pay flood insurance. I've been paying ever since.
I live in Texas. I can't really imagine a vast flood sweeping away my house and causing me to climb on the roof and wait for rescue. The nearby "creek" is bone dry unless it rains. To make things even better, if I recall from when I saw the maps, the flood zone boundary line runs through my back yard. A few of my neighbors and I are included. Homes across the street and those a few houses down the street are completely flood zone free. Certainly the nearby park opposite my back yard fence experiences some slight flooding in heavy rains, simple from water building up and taking time to run off, but that's it.
I've been looking into replacing the fence around my yard, and it occurred to me; a tight, well-made fence, or a retaining wall or something, should be able to keep out any risk of water flooding into the backyard from the park. (Again, the whole thing is ridiculous–in the past eight years, that hasn't happened, and any water high enough to reach my house would go past and spill into the street and run away). So my question is, is there anything I can do to the property that would convince FEMA to say I am no longer at risk of my house being washed away any day now in a flood? I'm aware that I can pay for a surveyor to check my elevation and MIGHT be able to challenge FEMA that way if their map lists incorrect elevation–but is there anything I can do to make the property flood proof in FEMA's eyes?
Best Answer
The same thing happened to us. We hired a surveyor who specializes in contesting FEMA flood zone determinations. He handled all of the paperwork, filed it with FEMA, and got our flood zone designation removed.