The cost of flood insurance for residents in unincorporated Horry County is going down. The county has been accepted into a rating system that will bring flood insurance discounts to thousands of homeowners.
About 14,000 people who live in Horry County will qualify for discounts. The average rate cut for people in a flood zone is $24, which may not sound like much, but this is the beginning of the program and officials believe there'll be bigger savings to come.
Sam Duesenberry remembers well the flood of 1999 after Hurricane Floyd, when his back yard and deck were buried in water and it almost reached his first floor window.
Folks in his neighborhood and thousands of others will qualify for discounted flood insurance, now that the county has reached Class 9 in the Community Rating System.
Those cuts can add up, if the county continues to improve to class eight, seven and so on. "The most that we could ever possibly save would be a Class 1. If you're in a flooded zone that would be 45% off your flood insurance, which equals about $200," said Alicia Bastian, Horry County Emergency Management.
The rating system offers incentives for the county and homeowners to be aware of flooding and take steps to diminish it, like maintaining storm drains, relocating property and removing debris from often-flooded areas. "The precautions that you could take would save you thousands of dollars, so it would definitely be worth it," Bastian said.
Those precautions may be obvious if you live next to the Waccamaw River, like the Deusenberrys, but the biggest misconception about flood insurance is that it's only for people who live near bodies of water. "Flood insurance is also from heavy rains, from retention ponds," said Bastian, "If any of those things flood and causes the water to rise, that is what you need flood insurance for, not just if you live near a lake or the ocean."
90% of flood claims come from people who don't have flood insurance, so especially in the Horry County area, flooding can happen to just about anyone.
The flood insurance rate cuts go into effect October 1.
