by Sarah Ashton, Broker Associate
Ashton Kirchner Group, Keller Williams Realty
There has been a lot of interest in making structures more resilient since last September. Resiliency has a lot of definitions. One common connotation is that our buildings should be less susceptible to flood waters. For residential structures this means getting the living levels of the building above where flood waters may have a chance to enter the building. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, requires this in new residential construction in order to obtain Flood Insurance.
The reality is that many of the structures on Sanibel and Captiva, and off the Islands, are not at the required height and are not going to be raised to that height. It is also true that many of the ground level or lower elevation homes have been put back together and folks are enjoying living in them again. That doesn’t mean that they still are not at risk for water flooding the structure again.
In commercial buildings, because they are not residential, “Dry Floodproofing” is a recommended method of flood protection for buildings that are not up to the base flood elevation prescribed for an area. Dry Floodproofing is defined as “sealing a building to ensure that a building is watertight or impermeable to floodwaters.” * This can include the use of Flood panels for interior and back flow valves for water and sewer lines.
While these types of modifications will not be recognized by FEMA in residential properties, they still may be worth exploring to protect your home and property from the devastating effects of flooding. For more information please visit the references below.
*References:
https://emilms.fema.gov/IS321/HM0103040text.html
https://www.resilientdesign.org/fundamentals-of-resilient-design-dry-floodproofing/
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