Be Prepared - Know Your Flood Zone
If you have learned that you are required to obtain flood insurance,
or if you are not sure if your property is located in a one-hundred year
flood plain, you can look at flood maps yourself at the FEMA
website,
or you can view FEMA flood hazard maps at City Hall.
The City of Ripon
does not determine your flood zone, this is determined by FEMA.
The Floodplain Management Program
The City of Ripon Floodplain Management Program is a community effort
of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage. These
measures include zoning, subdivision or building requirements, and
special-purpose floodplain ordinances(Chapter
8.01 "Flood Damage
Protection)."
Floodplain Management Reduces Insurance Costs
A community’s agreement to adopt and enforce floodplain management
ordinances, particularly with respect to new construction, is an important
element in making flood insurance available to home and business owners.
The Federal Government Assists Private Insurance Companies
The Federal Emergemcy Management Agency
(FEMA) administers and manages
the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP). FEMA works closely
with nearly ninety private insurance companies to offer flood insurance
to property owners and renters. In order to qualify for flood insurance,
an community must join the NFIP and agree to enforce sound floodplain
management standards.
The NFIP, a federal program, offers flood insurance, which can be purchased
through property and casualty insurance agents. Rates are set and do
not differ from company to company or agent to agent. These rates depand
on many factors, which include the date and type of construciton of you
home, along with your building's level of risk.
The City of Ripon part of NFIP
The City of Ripon participates in the NFIP by adopting and enforcing
floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood
damage. City of Ripon Municipal Code Chapter
8.01 "Flood Damage
Protection" addresses floodplain management. In exchange for this
voluntary participation, the NFIP make federally-backed flood insurance
available to homeowners, renters, and business owners in our community.
The Benefits of Floodplain Management
Flood insurance is designed to provide an alternative to disaster assistance
to reduce the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and
their contents caused by floods. Flood damage is reduced by nearly
$1 billion a year through communities implementing sound floodplain
management requirements and property owners purchasing flood insurance.
Additionally, buildings constructed in compliance with NFIP building
standards suffer approximately 80% less damage annually than those
not built in compliance. Finally, every $3 paid in flood insurance
claims saves $1 in disaster assistance payments.
In addition to providing flood insurance and reducing flood damages
through floodplain management regulations, the NFIP identifies and maps
the nation's floodplains. Mapping flood hazards creates broad-based awareness
of these hazards and provides the data needed for floodplain management
programs and for actuarially rating new construction for flood insurance.
