A few weeks ago, the Spoonbill Courier published a report alerting MC homeowners to potential savings on their flood insurance policy.

This began with a query to the SJC Floodplain office for clarification about an SJC news release on flood insurance discounts available for all county homeowners. (See below).

In the course of the conversation, the Spoonbill Courier editor learned his property – while also eligible for the aforementioned discounts – had been mis-designated in the AE higher risk flood zone.

The county official agreed to write and forward me a memo asserting the county’s version that while some of the property sits in a flood zone, the home itself did not.

Our insurance broker’s reaction was confusion. The employees, it seems, had not ever faced a request to petition FEMA for a reclassification. After discussion, they agreed to do it.

Within three days, FEMA responded, agreeing with the re-designation request, and reclassified the property to the X zone. This dropped our new annual premium by $51, this year and going forward. And then, two checks showed up from Progressive Insurance, the company holding the policy for FEMA, totaling $153. Presumably rebates for past years.

So it might be worth confirming your home is correctly classified under the National Flood Insurance Program. You can locate your home on this SJC Flood Viewer. If you suspect your home too has received an improper flood risk designation, contact Westly Woodward, CFM, SJC Floodplain Manager, wwoodward@sjcfl.us, Office: (904) 209-0627.

St. Johns County has been designated as a CRS Class 5 community based on an assessment of numerous flood mitigation activities the County recently implemented to protect lives and reduce property damage. The rating provides a 25 percent discount to property owners who hold National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) flood policies in Special Flood Hazard Areas on or after October 1, 2020. Additionally, a 10 percent discount will be applied to all standard-rated NFIP flood insurance policies in X zones.