Fort Myers get 15% increase on flood insurance discount

A huge relief for the people of Fort Myers.

WINK News is finding out what led to the city of Fort Myers going from just a 5% FEMA flood insurance discount to a 20% discount.

This is especially huge news because not even a year ago many places in Southwest Florida were going to lose the discount altogether.

Now this news out of Fort Myers could lead to other places getting the same discount.

A beautiful yellow Dean Park home is all fixed up after Hurricane Ian, Helene, and Milton.

The owners, Gary and Cathryn Eck have added new drywall and new flooring.

The Ecks know what it takes to rebuild: perseverance and flood insurance.

“I’m supposed to be retired, and here I am. For four years I’ve been working on reconstruction,” said Eck.

Eck was glad to hear he and all his Fort Myers neighbors will get a 20% discount on flood insurance come Oct. 1.

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been working on this for a long time” said Steve Belden, Fort Myers community development director. “There was a big hurdle to get over.”

Belden told WINK News back in 2018, FEMA dropped the city’s flood insurance discount completely, eventually they were able to bring it up to 5 percent.

Fema said the city didn’t properly document things like permits and elevation certificates, so the city got to work.

“A lot of it’s just providing documents to residents information. It’s mapping. What we’re learning now is, you know, not one person can just do all this themselves. And I think in the past, maybe that’s kind of the approach,” said Belden.

Belden told WINK his work’s not done yet. He believes the city can increase the 20% discount.

Other areas like unincorporated Lee County, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs are at a 25% discount.

So how does Fort Myers get there? Belden said fine-tuning documentation is one way, they can also add more open space in flood zone areas.

Fema re-evaluates every 5 years.