FEMA review to allow continued local savings on flood insurance

Stephen Curran

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 10:11 a.m.

Clark County engineers expect that an upcoming FEMA review will allow Las Vegas Valley property owners and residents to continue to save 20 percent on flood insurance rates.

The review is part of a voluntary Federal Emergency Management Agency program dubbed the Community Rating System, a relatively straightforward formula designed to gauge communities nationwide on how well they're prepared to prevent or clean up after a large-scale flood.

The County Commission is expected on Tuesday to finalize its annual application for the federal recertification, Phil Rosenquist, director of county development services, said.

The system rates communities on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the most prepared and 10 being the least. For every level below 10, there is a 5 percent decrease in flood insurance rates. Clark County, with a rating of Level 6, receives a 20 percent discount, he said.

The county has participated in the program since the early 1990s, when it rated a Level 9, Rosenquist said. Each year, the county has improved or maintained its rating, he said.

"It ends up being a big deal" because the Level 6 designation saves property owners living in the flood zones in the unincorporated county more than $385,000 a year collectively, Rosenquist said.

Throughout the county there are more than 365 square miles of flood zones, although that figure is skewed heavily by Lake Mead, which the district counts as a flood plain, Betty Hollister, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, said.

The application process coming before the commission is separate from possible changes to the flood control district's map, she said. FEMA engineers would then review any proposed changes and then determine whether to revise the map.

Commissioners on Tuesday are also expected to review a presentation on the county's Emergency Operations Plan, prompted by a nationwide push for local governments to revisit their preparedness plans in light of the Gulf Coast devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

That designation puts the unincorporated county in exclusive company.

According to FEMA statistics, 73 percent of the 1,018 communities that participate in the program rate either a nine or an eight, meaning they are eligible for a 5 or 10 percent discount.

Only 5 percent -- 53 recipients, including Clark County -- were rated "Community Level 6," according to the agency.