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Thousands of homeowners don’t realize it, but they’re about to get hit with another fiscal tsunami from Hurricane Sandy.
For the last six weeks, federal officials have been working with the city to redraw maps and expand flood zones that haven’t been changed since 1983.
It’s not hard to figure out where the new boundaries are headed: farther inland.
Mayor Bloomberg made that clear last month by disclosing that two-thirds of the homes battered by Sandy were beyond evacuation zones.
Neighborhoods that had never flooded before, such as Gerritsen Beach and East Williamsburg in Brooklyn, were suddenly under water.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of properties not in the flood zone before and find themselves in now,” said Don Griffin, a vice president at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
The redrawn maps will form the basis for new building regulations meant to contain damages from future storms.
But they’ll also jack up costs for homeowners.
Those planning to build or rebuild within a flood zone will have to meet strict height requirements to get above FEMA-designated flood levels. The lower down they are, the more it will cost.
“Every foot below the flood plain adds to the cost,” explained Griffin.
Those who have mortgages with federally chartered banks will have to buy flood insurance, even if their homes are intact.
That can run from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year. The closer to water a structure is, the more the policy will cost.
In lower Manhattan, which is loaded with high-rises, bills could soar. “There’s going to be dramatic cost implications as you go inland,” said a source.
Steve Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said some of his members whose downtown properties were damaged by Sandy have been hit with double-digit increases in their insurance premiums. “That’s without even seeing the [new] lines,” he said.
One insider said the city has hired its own consultant to ensure that the FEMA boundaries in lower Manhattan don’t raise howls. “There’s been a little pushback from the city,” said the insider.
Both FEMA and city officials insist their talks have been collaborative and without rancor.
“FEMA is working on the maps, and they continue to update us throughout the process,” said mayoral spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua. “It’s very important for FEMA to get the maps right, and we expect them to be available once the process is complete.”
FEMA has an interactive map allowing homeowners to learn if they are within the current flood zones at https://hazards.fema.gov/wps/portal/mapviewer.