Flooding in the Auburn Area

On Thursday the 23rd, our Maintenance Coordinator, Maria Garcia, and property manager, Kasey Medina, attended an apartment manager’s meeting at Auburn City Hall. We had the opportunity to hear from a gal with the Emergency Preparedness Department about flood insurance and flood risk posed by the Howard Hanson Damn. I vaguely recalled this being in the news last winter, but it really hit home when we were handed a map of the flood zone on which are a few of the properties managed by Bell-Anderson.

While the Army Corps of Engineers is working on the damn and are seeing promising results, there is still an elevated risk that a few areas of Northern Auburn will be affected by the flood this coming winter. Here’s the good news: IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GET FLOOD INSURANCE. I asked the person speaking if flood insurance would be very expensive since a flood is predicted for the area. The response was more good news: when applying for flood insurance, the insurance company has to go off of FEMA’s map of areas likely to flood and not what the news is predicting. The North Auburn area is considered a low flood risk area to FEMA, so flood insurance is fairly inexpensive. I know one owner of ours was able to purchase insurance for a small multi-family building at about $400 per year.

Not only to owners need flood insurance, but City of Auburn is recommending that tenants purchase flood insurance as well. As with the owners’ policies, this insurance should be very inexpensive. If you would like more information, I’ve provided a few links to the City of Auburn website:

http://www.auburnwa.gov/Emergency/disaster/Green_River_and_Howard_Hanson_Dam_Information.asp

http://www.auburnwa.gov/government/News/2009_News_Stories/Green_River_Valley_Residents_Urged_To_Buy_Flood_Insurance.asp

From the City of Auburn website: ” To learn about preparing for floods, or purchasing flood insurance, and the benefits of protecting homes, business and property against flooding, visit www.floodsmart.gov or call 1-888-379-9531 (TTY 1-800-427-5593).”

Thank you to the City of Auburn for this very important information!