California Surveyors Forums

Wondering if anyone has dealt with this yet. The Natomas area in Sacramento is flood Zone A99. It was in Zone AE with a 36 foot BFE until 2015 when it was lifted to an A99 to allow construction again. The area will be "Shaded X" once the levees are deemed satisfactory to FEMA. I have a client, who is a developer building homes in this zone, who can't seem to get FHA financing available for their homes. I've done a number of elevation certs in this area and I'm starting to get calls from people wondering how i can "get the house out of the flood plane", which is ridiculous, because zone A99 has no BFE. Has anyone done Elevation Certs in A99 whose applying for FHA or HUD financing?

Flood elevation certificates are not used for rating in zones A99 or shaded X. The rating is a reduced-rate blanket risk assessment based on the shaded zone X rating. See top of 2nd sheet of FEMA fact sheet available here:

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data ... 040715.pdf

As your client knows, he can't get FHA/HUD financing for property in an A99/shaded X designation. See the HUD document here:

https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/docume ... pendix.pdf

To get a property removed from a shaded zone X would typically require a LOMA prepared by a civil engineer specializing in hydrology/hydraulics. However, for property which is designated as shaded zone X (or future shaded zone X as in your case) due to protection by a levee system, the probability of success getting a LOMA approved is highly unlikely because breach of a levee is more of a question of risk management than statistical probabilities and elevation determinations. For further information I highly recommend you speak to an engineer who specializes in hydrology/hydraulics and specifically flood mapping. This really isn't a surveying question.

William,
It's worth pointing out that not all LOMA's require a detailed hydrologic analysis prepared by a civil engineer. Surveyors can provide a valuable service to some of their clients who are paying flood insurance on properties and/or structures that are clearly higher than the BFE. The eLOMA is an easy tool to provide that service.
https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data ... t_2015.pdf

Matt,

I'm late to the game, but I suggest you reach out to the local Floodplain Manager when you encounter an unusual situation. The one in my county provided invaluable assistance on an "exception" case a few years back.