Residents, Realtors concerned about flood insurance

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Some residents and Realtors are hoping to make

their mark on a federal flood insurance program.

Citizens Against Forced Flood Insurance, a fledging group started by

Realtors with Century 21’s Beachside offices, has attracted about 200

residents from the city, as well as Fountain Valley and Westminster, to

air concerns over the National Flood Insurance Program and the effect it

has had on their expenses.

“The first goal here is to bring this issue out into the open so that

local politicians understand the gravity of our situation,” said Adam

Rodell, a Realtor and new Huntington Beach resident who helped organize

the group’s first meeting Saturday.

Rodell’s concern stems from mandatory flood insurance that he and

other residents in his neighborhood must now buy, after residents in the

area have done without it for almost 30 years.

The city has been part of a National Flood Insurance Program, run by

the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which offered discounted

insurance to residents with loans and mortgages backed by federal

institutions. In 1996, flood insurance rates were cut by 50% because of

improvements to the Santa Ana River aimed at bringing it up to 100-year

flood capacity, officials said.

Those improvements were completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in

November 1999, leading federal officials to reassess the flood dangers in

the city and and neighboring cities. Redrawn flood zone maps were

released June 14, and they found the levels of the Wintersburg Channel,

which runs from Garden Grove through to the Bolsa Chica wetlands, did not

meet 100-year flood standards.

Residents living around the channel are now required to buy insurance

but not at the discounted rate through the federal program.

“I’m totally frustrated,” said Larry Richey, a 55-year-old retiree who

now finds himself required to buy flood insurance while living on a fixed

income. “I’ve been exempt for the 30 years I’ve lived here, and now I pay

$700 in premiums.”

Richey maintains that he is not in any flood danger, and that his

85-home neighborhood was mistakenly put into a flood zone. Richey’s

insurance, Rodell added, is twice what it costs for fire insurance in the

city.

In May, the office of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who

was involved with the improvements of the Santa Ana River, sent out

notices and a flood zone map to residents, urging them to check if they

would be affected by the changes and to buy insurance accordingly for the

discounted rates.

“The main problem we see is that many people now have to pay flood

insurance because of the change, when they never had to buy it before,”

said Kathleen Hollingsworth, district director for Rohrabacher. “They had

never been in a flood zone before and did not think the mailer applied to

them.”