By MICHAEL RICHESON/Daily Inter Lake

Hundreds of Flathead County homeowners are receiving unexpected notices that they must purchase flood insurance. New flood-plain maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency took effect Sept. 28, and the agency determined that the county's danger zone for flooding has expanded.

Lending institutions are alerting customers that they are now living in a 100-year flood plain, and the federal government requires that anyone living in that zone and has a mortgage must insure their homes.

That's surprising - and unpleasant - news for homeowners like Doug Raymond who owns a home in Harbor Village in Bigfork. When he and his wife moved into their home six months ago, their bank never said a word about flood insurance. But when the updated flood maps came out in September, Raymond's home was suddenly listed as being in the flood plain.

"It's highly suspicious," Raymond said. "Post Katrina, FEMA is looking for new revenue sources. I believe they looked at areas and decided to expand the coverage and require homeowners like me to buy insurance that isn't worth anything."

Raymond said that his $250,000 coverage policy with a $1,000 deductible costs him an extra $1,000 per year.

"The coverage doesn't include contents, either," he said. "It's very expensive and there's no coverage. Basically, I'm giving the government another $1,000 per year to fund post-Katrina debacles. That's a lot of money I didn't plan in my budget. My question is, what even precipitated this re-evaluation?"

According to Marijo Camrud, who works for FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, the updated maps serve numerous purposes. First, the new digital maps bring all of Flathead County on to one unified map. Previously, the county, Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls had separate maps. This effort made all of the flood-plain information available on a consistent map scheme.

The new Flathead County digital flood insurance rate map also includes a series of water and engineering studies since the last update in 1996. Total cost for the mapping project was $551,673.

"When we produce a map, we have no idea if the flood plain will grow or shrink," Camrud said. "The perception that we're doing it to bring more people into the flood plain is incorrect. We're trying to identify the risk and educate the public."

FEMA maps are generated by a complex program that determines how high the water levels would get in a "bad flooding event." The 100-year flood plain equates to a 1 percent chance in any given year that a bad flooding event would occur.

"We can't represent every scenario," Camrud said. "A big event like what happened in 1964 could certainly happen again."

According to Nancy Steinberger, who works with FEMA's map modernization program, urbanization can cause flood plains to expand.

"As you urbanize a basin, you get more runoff," Steinberger said. "All the water can't get through paved roads and roof tops, which can increase flood hazards."

For homeowners like Raymond, the suspicion comes because FEMA not only determines the flood zones, but the agency also offers the required flood insurance.

Flood insurance wasn't available in the United States until 1974 when Congress formed the National Flood Insurance Program. Congress employed the Army Corps of Engineers to map the country and to determine areas susceptible to flooding. The engineers estimated how high flood waters would rise in a bad incident, and this water level became known as the Base Flood Elevation.

The government then offered more than 22,000 municipalities across the country voluntary participation in the insurance program. Whitefish was the first city in Flathead County to join the program on July 16, 1979. Kalispell followed on Sept. 17, 1980 along with Flathead County on Sept. 5, 1984 and Lake County on Dec. 17, 1987. Polson didn't join until Jan. 15, 1999.

The basic agreement with FEMA was that the agency would make flood insurance available to homeowners residing in the flood plain as long as the community government refused to issue building permits unless the first floor was above the Base Flood Elevation.

"You can use fill, a crawl space or put the house on stilts. If the community agrees to that, then insurance is available to everybody," Evan Hecht said.

According to Hecht, chief executive officer of The Flood Insurance Agency in Kalispell, the program was the government's attempt to curb future flood damage rather than jump into the insurance business. FEMA works with 90 insurance companies, and every company offers the same coverage for the same premiums, but how the agency rates flood insurance is extremely complicated.

FEMA releases a 400-page document to insurance companies that changes twice a year and spells out a tangled web of rates and coverage.

Hecht, who has served as an expert witness at flood insurance trials, said that 90 percent of all homeowners purchase flood insurance because it is required. Any federally regulated lender must require flood insurance if the home is in a susceptible area.

"If the bank doesn't require the insurance, the bank is subject to penalties," Hecht said. "In 2006, 119 banks were fined $1.3 million for non-compliance with federal flood insurance regulations. It was much higher in 2007, but the numbers haven't been published yet."

If a homeowner refuses to purchase the insurance after the bank sends notification, the bank must buy the insurance from FEMA - at three times the normal rate.

"FEMA has different rates for lender-placed insurance," Hecht said. "The borrower does not want to have the bank buy the insurance. If you don't want the insurance, your only choice is to pay off your mortgage."

The map change and insurance rates will be different for each homeowner. Variables such as when the home was built, last map update, previous enrollment in FEMA's insurance program and flood plain construction compliance all come into play. Certain situations allow homeowners to grandfather their home into previous maps, which means they can pay reduced rates.

FEMA maps are general and aren't detailed enough to account for individual structures. Any homeowner who disagrees with being listed in the updated flood zone may file a letter of map amendment through the Flathead County Planning and Zoning office. The homeowner must pay an engineer to shoot elevation, and the cost can reach into the thousands of dollars. The request then goes through state and federal channels before being approved or rejected by FEMA.

Camrud stressed that homeowners outside of the flood plain can still purchase insurance for much less.

"A lot of times there is dismay when a flood event occurs, and it differs from our map," she said. "An actual event can and often does violate our program's assumptions."

For more information, visit www.floodsmart.gov or www.fema.gov. Hecht said that his company also offers free advice for homeowners wanting more information about flood insurance. The Flood Insurance Agency may be reached at 755-2838.

Reporter Michael Richeson may be reached at 758-4459 or by E-mail at mricheson@dailyinterlake.com