In a special meeting of the Cocke County Legislative Body (CLB) on Tuesday evening, tensions ran high as local leaders and citizens confronted the federal strings attached to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
While no final action was taken, the discussion laid bare the burdens of federal overreach, red tape, and economic hardship threatening the rural Tennessee community in the aftermath of catastrophic flooding.
Recent incidents of flooding have prompted a reexamination of where and how rebuilding should occur. Some residents, eager to rebuild, have initiated construction without waiting for the necessary approvals from FEMA.
Property Assessor Macie Reed, who also serves as Cocke County’s floodplain administrator, became emotional when describing the moral dilemma FEMA’s regulations place on her shoulders, Insurance Newsnet reported.
She recounted being told to “issue stop-work orders” for two mobile homes placed in the Centerview community, where families had lost everything.
Under NFIP rules, any home with 50% or more damage must be rebuilt to code — an expensive and often unattainable requirement for families scraping together funds to restore their lives.
For many, it means homes must be elevated or undergo costly engineering analyses. Failure to comply could mean foreclosures as mortgage lenders impose forced flood insurance premiums, which Reed described as “astronomically higher.”
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Reed said she was told by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) representatives to issue stop work orders for two mobile homes that were being placed in the floodway in the Centerview community where homes had been completely destroyed.
“I don’t have the heart to do that,” Reed said. She said she has cried regarding the situation and that morally she doesn’t feel it is right to stop construction for people who have lost so much already.
Explaining a worst case scenario, Reed used a brick home fronting Highway 73 in the Edwina community as an example. She said if it suffered 50% or more damage, it must now be rebuilt to code, which could mean that the home must be elevated. She said the process “is not cheap or easy, and adds expense” to the rebuilding process.
She further explained if the county pulls out of the NFIP there are many potential ramifications. She said it would be difficult — if not impossible — for people to get flood insurance coverage for their properties. Those with mortgages would see lenders placing forced flood insurance coverage on their properties, which is “astronomically higher” she said. Those forced premiums could lead to payments higher than people can afford, which in turn, could lead to foreclosures. Property values could also plummet in the flood zones because of the difficulty acquiring flood insurance coverage.
Addendums added after the flood have made the surveying process more complex for surveyors.
As an example, it was pointed out Hartford is in Zone A. The rebuilding in that area per FEMA guidelines calls for property to be three feet above the highest adjacent land.
“Rebuilding in the floodway is even stickier,” Reed said. “Two properties in the floodway have placed mobile homes. FEMA wants me to issue a stop work order. It is impossible to get no rise on a mobile home in a floodway.”
The NFIP, intended to provide affordable flood insurance, instead has morphed into what many see as a bureaucratic straitjacket.
Commissioner Andy Ford, whose basement flooded, voiced frustration over the program’s punitive nature.
“If we stay in this (NFIP) they can’t afford to build back. It’s basically a land grab so only the wealthy can live on the waterways,” Ford said, adding it “wasn’t a restoration effort, it’s a relocation effort.”
Floodplain maps used to enforce NFIP policies are outdated, dating back to 2009, and fail to reflect the region’s shifting geography after the historic flooding.
Yet, FEMA’s heavy-handed requirements remain in full force, dictating rebuilding efforts with little regard for the economic reality of rural communities.
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