Community participation in the federal insurance program

How do communities qualify for flood insurance premium reductions?

Communities must individually apply for participation in the CRS. The CRS gives credit points for any of several designated activities within four distinct categories (Public Outreach, Mapping and Regulations, Flood Damage Reduction, and Flood Preparedness). Each CRS listed activity is worth a specified number of points. When all of a community’s activities are verified, the achieved points are calculated and adjusted as necessary, according to the rules of the CRS. For each 500 points that can be verified, a community will receive one class reduction starting at class 9 all the way down to class 1. Each class translates to an additional reduction in insurance premiums of 5% for flood insurance policies within the special flood hazard area of that community. This is a voluntary program for communities.

All CRS participants must achieve a class of at least 9, which means they have accumulated a minimum of 500 points, and are therefore entitled to a 5% reduction in premiums. The maximum reduction in insurance premiums a community can get would be 45%, if they achieved a class 1 rating. The district’s verified CRS activities net a total of 563 points, which is enough to allow any city or town in Santa Clara County to join CRS and receive a minimum 5% discount on flood insurance premiums for its citizens.

The district has always advocated that individual cities engage in activities that provide a greater degree of protection for all citizens. There are many things that each community can do to better prepare for and manage floods, accrue points in the CRS, further reduce flood insurance premiums, and prepare and protect its citizens from the damaging effects of floods.

The district encourages all cities and towns to join CRS because of the economic benefits to the members of our community, and because it will heighten the flood hazard awareness and promote good floodplain management activities within the community. There are also proposals linking State and Federal programs to communities that engage in active floodplain management within the CRS program. The district utilizes such programs to help manage flooding problems, and greater county-wide participation in the CRS program could help the district qualify for greater participation in such programs. It is also possible that more programs, either flood damage prevention or post-flood assistance, may be linked to participation in the CRS in the future.

Find Out More About Your Community’s Participation in CRS

Some cities already participate in the CRS program, but several cities and towns in Santa Clara County do not. To find out if your community participates in the CRS program, and what class you are rated at, you can check on the FEMA Web site.

If you want to find out more information about your community’s participation in CRS, call your city’s flood information personnel. Phone numbers are found below.

* A Special Flood Hazard Area is that area delineated on the FEMA FHBM as subject to inundation by the base (100-year) flood. The base flood is the flood that has a 1-percent probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year and has been adopted as a regulatory standard by Federal agencies, and most States, for use in the administration of floodplain management programs.

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