Seventeen New Jersey Communities are Recognized for Reducing their Flood Risk through the Community Rating System

LINCROFT, N.J. — Seventeen New Jersey municipalities will be recognized for reducing their flood hazard risk through the Community Rating System in awards ceremonies today and Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Today’s ceremony at 10 a.m. the Long Beach Township Courtroom will honor Bay Head, Beach Haven, Berkeley Township, Hazlet, Lavallette, Long Beach Township, Mantoloking, Middletown Township and Stafford Township. Wednesday’s ceremony at 12:30 p.m. at Sea Isle City Elementary School will honor Avalon, Cape May, Cape May Point, Longport, Margate, Ocean City, Sea Isle City and Upper Township.

The Community Rating System (CRS) is a program administered by FEMA that provides lower insurance premiums under the National Flood Insurance Program. Communities can apply to participate in the CRS, and residents of participating communities pay lower premium reduction rates based on the implementation of floodplain management policies.

Communities earn points toward their rating based on 18 creditable activities in four categories: Public Information, Mapping and Regulations, Flood Damage Reduction and Flood Preparedness. For towns participating in the CRS, flood insurance premium rates are discounted in 5 percent increments. Premium reductions are in the form of CRS Classes, similar to the classifications used for fire insurance. A Class 1 community (the highest level of compliance) would receive a 45% premium reduction.

Ten New Jersey municipalities (Sea Isle City, Avalon, Beach Haven, Bedminster, Brigantine, Long Beach Township, Longport, Mantoloking, Pompton Lakes and Stafford Township) are in Class 5, the highest level currently in the state. The 61 communities in the program have saved a total of $17 million.

Participating communities have better organized and more formal local flood programs, which can be evaluated against a nationally recognized benchmark. The discounted premiums give communities incentive to maintain its programs. Residents are reminded that their towns are working to protect them from flooding and will become more knowledgeable and interested in supporting and improving flood protection measures.

Learn more about the NFIP’s CRS program at http://www.fema.gov/business/nfip/crs.shtm.

http://www.fema.gov/disaster/4086/updates/sandy-one-year-later

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. 

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications