Are you looking for an Elevation
Certificate in Bergen County NJ?
Omland & Osterkorn is an experienced and accomplished
engineering firm that can provide you with an Elevation Certificate in Bergen
County NJ.
Many property owners are finding themselves in need of
something called an Elevation Certificate after receiving notification from
their lenders that they are potentially in a flood hazard area. Without an
Elevation Certificate, flood insurance premiums are usually rated in the
highest tier, because they assume the highest risk in the absence of better
information.
The first and most critical component of an Elevation
Certificate is the flood zone that the property is located in. In the
southeast, most property is in one of three zones: X, A, and AE. Zone X is
classified as areas that are outside of the 100-year flood plain. This is the
best place to be! Zones A and AE are areas with a 1% annual chance of flooding
(thence statistically probable to flood once every 100 years and our term 100 years
flood plain). FEMA reflects that areas in an A or AE zone have a 26% chance of
flooding over the life of a 30 years mortgage, as compared to only a 4% chance
of fire damage in the same period of time.
Zones A and AE are usually shaded and clearly labeled on Flood
Insurance Rate Maps ("FIRMs"). The boundaries of A zones are
estimated from aerial photography, historical flooding limit data, and USGS
topographic maps. No FEMA sponsored detailed analysis has been performed in A
zones. AE zones are different in that FEMA has performed a detailed analysis
and determined the base flood elevations ("BFE") along flood prone
streams. It is very common for Zone A boundaries to be impractical and much
larger than the actual flood plane. Subsequently, many properties are within
mapped A zones but outside the actual flood plain, which creates seemingly
unnecessary hardships on affected property owners.
Elevation Certificates require several elevation or vertical
measurements of the affected structures. The process that calculates flood
insurance premium amounts takes all the differences in elevations into account
and determines a premium that is based on a weighted likelihood of damage in
the event of a flood event. Also required is an inventory and certification of
flood openings (or "flood vents") in crawl spaces or basements. Flood
vents are used to allow passage of flood waters in and out of these areas of
structures to avoid wall failure from hydrostatic pressure. Such hydrostatic pressure
can be caused from flood waters trying to get into a structure during the
event, or trapped flood waters trying to get out of a structure after the water
has receded.
Insurance premium amounts are often improved after an
Elevation Certificate has been completed on a structure in Zone AE, because the
elevations are related directly to the base flood elevation. Unfortunately, the
reported elevations have much less effect on premiums for structures in
(unstudied) A zones. This can understandably cause frustration and
disappointment in the property owners. Many property owners in Zone A find it
to their benefit to have a detailed analysis (or "flood study")
performed on their property in order for them to have a base flood elevation
entered in their Elevation Certificate.
For more information about elevation
certificates in Bergen County NJ, speak to one of our engineers at 973-647-7820.
Omland & Osterkorn – Your Trusted Elevation
Certificate Surveyors in Bergen County NJ.
