re: 5.13.14 Update In OP: Flood Insurance Question Help

I would find out if the person that surveyed the property and provided the flood certificate used historic landmarks or if they used a landmark obtained by gis or whatever it is called(satellite). I ran into this situation. The neighborhood I lived in was built in 2002-2004. The houses were built a foot above base flood elevation using landmarks in the neighborhood, which were derived from the historic landmarks.

After the house was built, the new FEMA flood maps put the house in AE flood zone, and the house was now at Base flood elevation. When I went to sell the house this past November, When the buyers got the flood elevation certificate, the surveyor used the gis elevation benchmark and it put me 1 foot below base flood elevation. Apparently the parish decided that the old landmarks were not good any longer and require the surveyors to only be able to use a handful of older landmarks and otherwise use the satellite elevations, which dropped my elevation a foot. So, the house went from being built in 2003 at 1 foot above base flood elevation to 1 foot below base flood elevation. Luckily, I was able to hire a surveyor who was familiar with the area who came back and shot the elevation using the neighborhood benchmarks, which put me back at base flood elevation or eels I probably would not have been able to sell my house. Good luck dealing with FEMA.