New Flood Hazard Maps & Insurance Information

You may have recently received a letter from your lender about the new flood hazard maps and how they affect you. As you may be aware, FEMA recently revised flood hazard maps for Kenosha County and its communities. These updated maps - known as Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps or DFIRMs – were created to help communities and individuals understand their current flood risk by depicting areas of high-risk, low-to-moderate risk, and undetermined risk. As a result, business owners and residents - like you - will be able to make more informed decisions to help ensure personal safety and financial well being.

These new flood maps became effective on June 19, 2012 are available for review at FEMA’s Flood Smart website or on the Kenosha County Interactive Mapping website. The Kenosha County Interactive Mapping System serves the following types of data: Parcels, Topography, Public Land Survey System, Roads, Water Bodies, Zoning, Soils, Floodplain and Shoreland, Aerial Photography

It is important that you understand how you will be affected, what your property’s risk for flooding is, and what insurance options you have. The new maps are used by Planning & Development staff to regulate land use in the floodplain, builders and developers, lenders, realtors, insurance agents and the general public to determine flood risk, develop mitigation measures, and encourage responsible risk management decision-making.

Furthermore, some property owners will be required to carry flood insurance as Congress mandates federally regulated or insured lenders to require flood insurance on properties that are located in areas at high risk of flooding (i.e., Special Flood Hazard Areas).

High-risk areas (Special Flood Hazard Area or SFHA)

Areas are inside the 1% annual flood-risk floodplain area (100-year floodplain)
Over the life of a 30-year mortgage, there is a 26% chance the property will be flooded
All homeowners in these areas with mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders are required to buy flood insurance
Shown on the flood maps as zones labeled with the letters A or AE

If you received a letter from your lender about your flood risk and insurance needs we offer the following links to will help you determine the effects of the new maps on your property, your flood insurance options, and fact sheets to help you determine what actions are necessary.

Map Changes and Flood Insurance (PDF): What property owners need to know about map changes and flood insurance.

How to Apply For a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Amendment–Out as Shown (LOMA–OAS): The FEMA Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Amendment–Out as Shown (LOMA–OAS) determination is a no cost-application and will state the property or building is correctly shown outside the Special Flood Hazard Area and, therefore, the mandatory flood insurance requirement does not apply. There is no review fee for FEMA to process LOMAs or LOMA–OAS, but there may be costs for surveying, etc., related to preparing the application for the LOMA.

Letter of Map Amendment–Out As Shown (LOMA–OAS) Instructions (PDF): LOMA–OAS is a determination made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the property and/or buildings as to whether it is located within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). Only use this method if it is clear, visually, that the structure in not in the SFHA.

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) MT-EZ Instructions and Form: The MT-EZ form should be used to request that FEMA remove a single structure or legally recorded parcel of land or portion thereof, described by metes and bounds, certified by a registered professional engineer or professional land surveyor, from a designated Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), via Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or a single structure or legally recorded parcel of land or portion thereof that is clearly out of the SFHA as shown on the maps. This MT-EZ form shall not be used for requests submitted by developers, for requests involving multiple structures or lots, for property in alluvial fan areas, for property located within the regulatory floodway, or requests involving the placement of fill.

Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) MT-1 Instructions and Application Form: The MT-1 form should be used to request that FEMA remove a single structure or legally recorded parcel of land or portion thereof, based on fill that has been placed on the property to raise ground that was previously below the BFE. A LOMR-Friday will require an Elevation Certificate certified by a professional land surveyor or registered professional engineer and a Community Acknowledgment Form signed by the Floodplain Administrator in the Kenosha County Department of Planning and Development.

FEMA FIRMette Map: A FIRMette map is a full-scale section of a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). The FIRMette also includes the map title block, north arrow, and scale bar. You can make your FIRMette by going to FEMA’s Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov/portal (there is a tutorial on how to make a FIRMette on the bottom right corner of the home page).

The Kenosha County Register of Deeds provides access to real estate records. They have two office locations to serve you:

Kenosha County Register of Deeds also provides online access to real estate records through LandShark, a web-based tool for the location and retrieval of land record documents. With LandShark, you can search for land record documents (recorded deeds) and, if the document is available on our system, actually view the document on your computer.

The Register of Deeds will charge a fee to obtain real estate information.