AmeriFlood Solutions, Inc. (AFSI) offers complimentary Flood Risk Evaluations (FREs) to identify the true flood risk of insured structures in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). Located in Delray Beach, FL, the firm is a risk management company serving facility professionals throughout the United States who are required to purchase flood insurance by their respective lenders.
“For commercial property owners and the insurance agents, brokers, or risk management consultants working on their behalf, to rely solely on a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) to calculate coverage is troublesome” states Michael Allison, vice president of AFSI. “The map-based approach designates communities, not individual structures and given climate patterns, environmental influences and FEMA’s expanded authority to map additional areas of risk such as those in the proximity of levees, dams and other flood control systems, an erroneous flood zone designation impedes fiscal management and growth.”
AFSI asserts that the best practice for flood risk management is an annual review to determine the true flood risk of each insured structure in the SFHA. Reviews, such as AFSI’s FRE, penetrate the boundaries of the SFHA to examine characteristics unique to an insured structure and analyze factors such as area drainage patterns, flood control maintenance, area construction and recent weather events such as Hurricane Sandy.
The results allow facility professionals in an erroneous low-moderate risk flood zone to purchase coverage before a loss occurs, and those located in an erroneous high-risk flood zone, which is subject to the National Flood Insurance (NFIP) purchase requirement, to re-allocate funds to increase value, finance improvements and enhance their bottom line.