What is being done to raise flood insurance discounts?

Homeowners want the city to do something fast about their flood insurance discount.

For one homeowner WINK News spoke to, it would mean his current flood insurance rates would go down a lot. For the other, it could mean a chance to return to FEMA as a possibly cheaper option.

Why? That’s the question on everybody’s mind when it comes to FEMA flood insurance in Fort Myers.

“I don’t feel like we’re any worse off than a lot of these other coastal communities. So it is concerning why the percentage is so different,” said Fort Myers resident Kyle Hendricks.

While all of these Lee County municipalities offer a 20% or 25% flood insurance discount, Fort Myers offers only 5%.

“We are the ones that got hit tremendously. We, as a matter of fact, I think that we should be getting a much bigger discount,” said Fort Myers resident Bob Kwapis.

With the Caloosahatchee River running through a great portion of Fort Myers, flooding is common.

“The storms we had a month and a half ago or whatever, just driving around town and seeing how long the water stayed and seeing some houses that looked like they may have been impacted,” said Hendricks.

So insurance is necessary and required in many areas.

“We went from not even having to have it for our mortgage to being in a special hazard zone,” said Hendricks.

And it’s expensive, too.

“Flood insurance, unfortunately, is very expensive for us because we’re in the 10 -10 zone, flood zone that is,” said Kwapis.

“We went private because the FEMA was more expensive,” said Hendricks.

And as the City of Fort Myers works hard for a higher discount: “We are hoping to jump to a class seven, possibly a class six, where we can give our citizens a 15 to 20% discount,” said Kwapis.

Homeowners are happy but hoping it doesn’t take too long.

“Unfortunately, we’re a little behind the eight ball because during that time, while they are trying to get the discount, we still have to pay the full insurance, only the 5% discount,” said Kwapis.

The city is currently in the middle of a FEMA audit. It takes place every four years.

City officials said that by the end of this year, they should know whether that 5% discount goes up, and they’re hopeful it will.