Mayor Shane McFarland | Shane McFarland Official Photo
Mayor Shane McFarland | Shane McFarland Official Photo
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), established in 1968, protects U.S. residents against the financial hardships of flooding. Flooding is one of the costliest disasters in the U.S., resulting in billions of annual property damage and one of the highest losses of life due to natural disaster. Property owners should know whether their property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area and the requirements and benefits of flood insurance.
Citizens and property owners can listen to "The Insider," the official podcast for the City of Murfreesboro, via Podbean at https://cityofmurfreesborotn.podbean.com/ or watch the podcast on YouTube at https://youtu.be/NTBvtfUd4eQ
City Floodplain Administrator Jennifer Knauf discusses the newly adopted FEMA flood maps and what property owners should know about the revised and adopted maps (May 9, 2023). Knauf, an engineer, joined the City in October 2022 after coordinating stormwater management for Metro Water Services in Nashville.
Issues discussed on this edition of “The Insider” include:
- The newly revised and adopted Flood Maps and why the maps change
- How “Flood Hazard Areas” and “Floodplains” are determined
- Resources for homeowners to determine whether their property is in the “Flood Zone”
- Understanding the technical language of 100-year flood, Zone A and Zone AE on maps
- The Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), “Base Flood,” “Floodway,” and “Floodplain”
- Why some property owners are “required” to buy flood insurance and the difference between homeowners’ insurance, flood insurance, and disaster insurance
- City requirements for development in the SFHA
- Plans and long-term goals for the City’s floodplain management program
The NFIP goal is increasing the number of properties covered by Flood Insurance and quadrupling the amount invested in mitigation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reviews the revised Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report for Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. The FEMA flood maps in the Stones River Watershed are flood insurance rate maps that identify properties with elevated risk of flooding. Recently, FEMA re-studied portions of the Stones River Watershed and final flood maps were adopted on May 9, 2023. As a result, a number of City parcels were impacted by the new flood maps with some parcels added into the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and some removed. Property owners, renters, and business owners who are interested in looking up their property to see if it’s located in a SFHA can visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, the official public source for Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), Flood Insurance Studies (FIS), and Letters of Map Changes (LOMCs). Other sources to look up flood hazard areas include FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer and the City of Murfreesboro’s GIS website.
In an effort to increase education and public outreach, the City is launching a new webpage dedicated to floodplain management. The website will provide a “one stop source” of useful links and resources related to flood maps and flood hazard identification, floodplain regulations, and flood insurance that will be beneficial for residents and business owners, engineers and developers, and real estate agents to use.
The City of Murfreesboro Planning Department is prepared to answer questions about the revised FEMA flood maps. City staff is available at the Planning Department, City Hall, 111 West Vine Street, 37133, to answer any questions concerning revisions to flood maps that will impact property owners. For further information on the maps, citizens may contact Jennifer Knauf at jknauf@murfreesborotn.gov
“The Insider” is hosted by Mike Browning and produced by award-winning producer Michael Nevills at City Hall.
Murfreesboro CityTV can be found on Comcast Channel 3 and 1094, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, YouTube, and the City website www.murfreesborotn.gov/citytv.
For City News online, visit www.Murfreesborotn.gov.
Original source can be found here.
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