Today we are discussing the August 2019 flood insurance map changes for Fullmore County Minnesota and areas near like Spring Valley, Preston, Lanesboro, and Rushford Minnesota. What will the impacts be? Can you fight it? What are the options?

What Will the Impacts Be?

The new flood insurance maps are expected to move over 600 property owners from low risk non mandatory zones to high risk mandatory flood zones. What exactly does this mean? Well if you have a mortgage it means you will be forced to carry flood insurance on your mortgage going forward. There will also be parts of areas like Preston and Spring Valley Minnesota where properties will be moved to low risk zones. This means the additional payment on your mortgage will be removed. 

Can You Fight It?

Just because you received a letter from your mortgage company that your property in Fullmore county Minnesota is now in a high risk flood zone does not mean its correct. While FEMA tries to do the best they can many times their technology does hold them back. This technology has come along way but still has a long way to go.  So how do you verify if this new flood zones is correct? The easiest way is to get an elevation certificate done. This will tell you if your property is above the base flood elevation. If it is then your property might be a good candidate to have the flood zone changed. So where can you get one of these elevation certificates and how much should it cost? While getting a flood zone changed is great it does always work out. So when it does not what are the flood insurance options?

What are the Flood Insurance Options?

So now that you are being forced to buy flood insurance what exactly are the options in Minnesota? Well you have two options.


                  FEMA or NFIP

Option number one is you can do a traditional flood insurance policy through FEMA or the National Flood Insurance Program. Before reaching out to any insurance agent to get this done you will want to make sure to contact someone like the Flood Insurance Guru who deals with these situations everyday. There can be a wide range of pricing with the National Flood Insurance Program if things are not entered correctly. You might be told you have to have an elevation certificate in order to get flood insurance. This depends on the year your home was built and if it has been updated. You may have been given a standard rate when in fact you should have been given the newly mapped revision rate. This rate is generally about $600 a year for the first year. Then each year after that it will steadily increase until it reaches the correct premium for the risk.  Whats also important to understand is that on residential policies only $250,000 is available on the building and a $100,000 for contents. So what if you already took a policy out and didn't get the new mapped rate can it be changed? As long as its within 12 months of the map changing this rate can be corrected but once it reaches 12 months it can not. So what is the option for flood insurance?


              Private Flood Insurance

So what is private flood insurance?   

Private flood insurance is backed by private flood insurance companies where NFIP is backed by the government.  Unlike NFIP coverages are not limited to $250,000 on buildings and $100,000 on contents. Additional living expenses are also available, so if your property floods you could have temporary housing. Also one of the biggest benefits for residents of Fullmore county Minnesota is the rates can be 50% less and not require an elevation certificate.


So we have discussed how Fullmore county Minnesota residents could be impacted by the new flood maps, how you can fight it, and what the flood insurance options in areas like Rushford and Lanesboro. Maybe you have further questions?

Please visit our website Flood Insurance Guru , our YouTube channel The Flood Insurance Guru, or our Facebook page The Flood Insurance Guru where we do daily flood education videos.

You can also click the link below to start reviewing flood insurance options in the Minnesota area.


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Chris Greene


Chris Greene

President of The Flood Insurance Guru
M.S. in Emergency Management with a focus in Flood Mitigation