From a June 11, 2010 FEMA News Release:
Residents and business owners in the City of Sugar Land can now enjoy a reduction in flood insurance premiums because of the city’s active participation in the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS). In addition to lower premiums, the CRS program helps to reduce the threat of damage due to flooding.
“The flood insurance program rewards communities for implementing programs and policies that protect their residents from flooding,” said Tony Russell, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regional administrator. “City of Sugar Land’s higher regulatory standards, public education outreach, and other initiatives, have earned the city lower premiums as a CRS Class 7 Community.”
The City of Sugar Land’s flood insurance policyholders who reside in Special Flood Hazard Areas will receive a 15 percent reduction on flood insurance premiums and policyholders located outside Special Flood Hazard Areas will enjoy a 5 percent discount. The reduction in flood insurance premiums represents an annual savings in premium costs for Sugar Land policy holders and will take effect at the time a new policy is written or an effective policy is renewed.
New to CRS, the City of Sugar Land’s participation in the CRS has been beneficial in many respects. In addition to the reduction in insurance premiums, the City of Sugar Land officials are more knowledgeable about floodplain management and its residents are more knowledgeable about mitigation and flood insurance.
The program helped make the City of Sugar Land a safer place to live, reduced the economic impact of flood hazards and saved their citizens money on their flood policy premiums.
The community rating system (CRS) is a voluntary program for NFIP- participating communities. The intended goals of the CRS are to reduce flood losses; facilitate accurate insurance ratings; and to promote the awareness of flood insurance. For more information on the NFIP’s CRS program, go to www.fema.gov/business/nfip/crs.shtm.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
