Devils Lake NFIP Endorsement

Devils Lake area communities face a unique situation, to develop strategies to live in harmony with a closed basin lake prone to dramatic changes in size and water level. Hard choices need to be made. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to work with local, state and tribal officials to address these issues. One tool is the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) special policy endorsement, which is a voluntary option available to assist eligible residents in relocating threatened structures. The land-use ordinance adopted as a condition of implementing the endorsement will help keep the problem from getting worse and in turn create more disaster-resistant communities.

On Aug. 2, 1999 FEMA’s Federal Insurance Administration added the NFIP endorsement, without an increase in premium, broadening coverage benefits for policyholders in closed basin lake areas. The endorsement and its requirements that communities adopt land-use ordinances governing development in the Areas of Special Consideration (ASC) have remained unchanged since it was developed in 1999 with input from local, state, tribal and federal officials. For Devils Lake this includes restrictions on construction below a mean sea level of 1460 feet. Until now the benefits of the endorsement have been provided based on a temporary moratorium adopted by the communities involved that applies to the same areas. From its inception, the endorsement included requirements that needed to be met from all levels of government, as well as from individuals themselves.

• In order to be eligible for the endorsement benefit, and before the first claim is paid, affected communities must adopt a permanent land-use ordinance prohibiting construction of any residential or commercial structures within the ASC, which is the mapped area reflecting the predicted maximum elevation that could be flooded by Devils Lake. This area goes up to an elevation of 1,460 feet. (Flood Insurance Rate Maps detail the ASC and are available from local floodplain administrators.)
  
  
• The special endorsement provides a benefit in that it allows total-loss claims to be paid on eligible insured structures that are under imminent threat or damaged by closed basin lake flooding. It accelerates the insurance claim payment process by waiving the standard requirement that a structure be inundated for 90 consecutive days by rising lake levels. This allows the structure to be relocated prior to being flooded. The structure must then be relocated outside the ASC.
  
  
• Previously, flood insurance waivers were granted in the Devils Lake area to allow individuals to move prior to 90 days of inundation. These waivers, which were granted year to year, were based on lake crest predictions and did not address long-term solutions. After assessing the waiver process, FEMA developed a legal closed-basin lake policy, which can be used nationwide for other closed-basin lakes. The endorsement is a risk-based, proactive, comprehensive and uniform solution for the long-term problem.
  
  
• In the event a community elects not to adopt the ASC ordinance, residents can still protect themselves with a standard rising lake level provision of the flood insurance policy that requires 90 consecutive days of inundation for a total-loss claim and a determination that it is reasonably certain that a total loss will result from a continuation of the flooding. However, it will be too late to relocate the building.
  
  
• If a community elects not to adopt the ASC ordinance, it may result in an increased flood risk for those remaining in the ASC, and pose potential debris-related public health and safety concerns if and when flooding occurs in that area.
  

Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to the hazard of the rising lake, but FEMA is committed to doing what it can to help people protect themselves and to move their homes and other structures from harm’s way. The agency is currently reviewing a request from Devils Lake area commissioners regarding modifications to the permanent ordinance. A response letter is being prepared.