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Policy Issuance 3-98

Subject: Continuous Lake Flooding Waiver - Area of Devil's Lake, North Dakota

Policy Issuance 2-98 was issued on April 30, 1998, waiving a requirement of the Continuing Lake Flooding provision of the Standard Flood Insurance Policy for buildings along the shoreline of Devil's Lake in North Dakota. To ensure that new buildings were not put in harm's way, the property owner was required to transfer title to the lot to the local community, dedicated for open space purposes. To meet this objective in a way that is more administratively feasible for the property owner and the community, the requirement to transfer the title is being changed to a requirement to place an encumbrance on the deed to require any new building to be built at a grade elevation of 1460.0 or higher. Policy Issuance 2-98 is modified and reissued by Policy Issuance 3-98 to reflect this change as follows:

Based on the unique conditions in the Devil's Lake area of North Dakota and pursuant to the waiver provisions of the Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP), I hereby waive for claims filed on or before September 30, 1998, for buildings along the shoreline of Devil's Lake that are inundated or potentially subject to inundation by the rising lake level, the requirement of the Continuous Lake Flooding provision of the SFIP that the structure be continuously flooded for 90 days before a total loss claim payment can be made, subject to the following conditions:

For insured buildings, with the lowest floor above 1444.0 MSL, but at or below the expected crest of the lake level (1445.5 MSL) predicted for Summer of 1998 by the National Weather Service.

These buildings will be considered subject to long-term inundation, or if protected by a temporary dike, subject to long-term inundation, but for the dike, and they will now be declared total losses.

As a condition to receiving the benefits of this policy issuance, the property owner must agree to buy back the salvage, on a negotiated basis, and to move the building back to a new location such that the lowest floor of the building is at or above an elevation of 1460.0 MSL unless an exception is granted in writing for good cause by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If the buildings are not relocated, the property owners must demolish the buildings at their own expense.

The deed to the original lot must be encumbered with the requirement that any new building be constructed at a grade elevation of 1460.0 MSL or higher. Future flood insurance coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program will not be made available for any building that is relocated, or any building that is newly constructed on the original lot, for which a claim under the SFIP has been paid in accordance with the above conditions, that does not meet these elevation requirements. Any building inundated by water will be considered a loss in progress as of the date the inundation began. Any other building that meets the conditions in this policy issuance for being declared a total loss on the date of this policy issuance will be considered a loss in progress on that date for purpose of this policy issuance. For any building not inundated by water, an elevation certificate will be required to establish that it meets the conditions of this policy issuance. If any elevation certificate is not available from the insured or some other source, the cost of obtaining one will be a loss adjustment expense.

Policy issuances 2-96, 4-96, 5-96, 1-97, and 3-97 are hereby reinstated, with their loss in progress provisions, effective through September 30, 1998. Buildings relocated under these prior policy issuances are not eligible to receive the benefit of this policy issuance.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 11-Aug-2010 12:31:08 EDT