How can Southwest Florida save more on flood insurance?

The FEMA flood discount varies but here are two extremes: Unincorporated Pinellas County has the highest discount, at 40% and The city of Fort Myers has a 5% discount.

Why do they have such a large discount, and how can Lee County get the same? WINK News sought to answer these questions and others Lee County residents may have.

“The most important thing is to look at your community, look at the best available data out there to figure out what the flood risks are in that particular community,” said Lisa Foster.

Foster is the floodplain administrator up in Pinellas County.

She says getting a raise in the FEMA discount isn’t something you ask for, it’s something you earn.

“It was over a decade ago that the floodplain administrator at the time recognized I need to evaluate the program evaluate what flood data we had, you know, there’s a lot of data out there outside of what FEMA provides,” said Foster.

Some of that data comes from right in our backyards in city records.

Others are sources like “My flood risk” a site where you can type in your address and see where you stand for flooding.

“We’re looking at our all of our assets from critical assets down to regular stormwater pipes, and looking at what the impact of current and future flooding conditions will be, and trying to project out life expectancy of a project before we build it, to evaluate different options to make it more resilient. So there’s there is a lot going on with ops and maintenance as well as capital planning,” said Foster.

A lot goes into this discount but in return, homeowners in flood-prone areas can save lots of money

Keeping the discount in southwest Florida is a must, raising it is a no-brainer.

“I would ask the city and the county to do their work and get the higher discounts for us,” said one fort Myers resident.

“Please come down here and teach our government how to get us the 40% discount,” said another.

Wink News asked Fema if a 40%discount could be possible for southwest Florida.

They told us that “Communities with higher CRS ratings work proactively to exceed the standards set.”