Flood Insurance Community Ratings

Flood insurance is crucial in the legal Delta, where approximately 77% of the land has a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. The 2023 Delta Residents Survey also found that only 19.8% of participants reported having access to flood insurance. These statistics signal a significant disparity between the need for and actual prevalence of flood insurance in the Delta. In California, the state is liable for flood-related damages caused by levee failures. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in 2005 prepared a Flood Management White Paper outlining integrated approaches to reduce flood risks and included a recommendation to require houses and businesses to have flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides affordable insurance to property owners, renters, and businesses in communities that reduce the impacts of flooding on private and public structures. The NFIP uses a community rating system as a voluntary incentive program to encourage activities that promote flood safety beyond the minimum NFIP requirements.

The Community Rating System (CRS) allows communities to decrease the cost of flood insurance for their citizens by taking actions to reduce flood risk. Lowering premiums encourages greater flood insurance coverage throughout the community which decreases both state and local liability. Every year each eligible community certifies that it is continuing its flood proofing activities to receive the NFIP flood insurance community discounts. Descriptions for each of flood proofing activities and their maximum points values are available in the FEMA NFIP CRS Coordinator’ Manual.