May 4, 2018

Thank you for subscribing to my e-newsletter. May the Fourth be with you.

This newsletter contains information for you and your family to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season. June 1st officially marks the beginning of this weather phenomenon, but it is never too early to prepare. Below you will find information from Federal Emergency Management Agency with tips for your preparation. Harris County has also deemed May 6-12 "Hurricane Preparedness Week," so you can read more about what will be going on next week in the county to help you formulate your family's response plan.

Saturday is election day for Humble ISD. This election is to evaluate a bond package proposal. You can read more about the proposal here. Tomorrow is the last day to vote, so please be sure to get out there! You can find your polling location at the bottom of this newsletter.

There is also still time to offer your input on an interest survey relating to flooding for Harris County. The results from survey will be used to establish housing programs needed by the community to recover from Hurricane Harvey. This is extremely important, and I encourage you to fill it out today.

Please fill out the brief interest form at this link.

I hope that you and your family have a great weekend.

Sincerely, 

Click Here to View and Download This Month's Calendar!

The level of damage a structure sustains during a flood may have a significant impact on how the rebuilding or repair project is viewed by FEMA, local building officials and flood insurance administrators. The key term to know is “substantial damage.”

After a flood, local officials will evaluate each structure to determine the level of damage. A building is considered substantially damaged if it is in the Special Flood Hazard Area and requires repairs that will cost at least 50 percent of the structure’s pre-flood market value.

Substantially damaged structures will be required to meet all local regulations for building in a floodplain. Often that means the structure will need to be elevated or relocated to reduce, or mitigate, its future flood risk. Floodproofing is also an option for non-residential structures. In cases of extreme damage, owners may choose to demolish a structure rather than rebuild to the local standard. 

To assist with meeting those local regulations, most National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies include Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. ICC provides up to $30,000 to comply with local floodplain policies, in addition to the regular insurance payout. The combined payout, however, may not exceed the policy limit of $250,000 for a home or $500,000 for a commercial structure or a residential property with five or more units.

Requiring substantially damaged buildings to meet floodplain requirements will reduce their likelihood of future flood damage and repetitive insurance payouts. It also will reduce the property’s flood insurance premiums and preserve the structure’s value. Additionally, structures that have not been mitigated are more likely to be abandoned, contributing to neighborhood decay.

For more information about NFIP, call 800-427-4661 or your insurance agent.

Texans can go to www.facebook.com/FEMAHarvey/, https://twitter.com/femaregion6, and www.fema.gov/disaster/4332 this week and throughout May to learn how NFIP can protect them from disaster. Texas NFIP 2018 is a whole month dedicated to sharing tips with Texans about how they can prepare themselves and their homes for hurricane season. Use #TXNFIP18 to find information online and share with your friends and family.

For additional information on Hurricane Harvey and Texas recovery, visit the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at https://www.dps.texas.gov/dem/.

Hurricane season begins June 1, which means homeowners and renters need to buy a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy today to be prepared for disaster. A flood insurance policy generally takes effect 30 days after purchase, and homeowners and renters insurance do not typically cover flood damage.

Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the United States, and it can occur almost anywhere — not just in high-risk areas. On average, 25 to 30 percent of all flood claims paid by NFIP are for properties outside high-risk flood areas.

If your community participates in NFIP, you can buy affordable protection that insures a single-family home for up to $250,000 and its contents up to $100,000. Renters can cover contents up to $100,000. Non-residential property owners can insure a building up to $500,000 and contents up to $500,000.

A 30-day waiting period must pass before most flood policies become active. Some policies, however, start sooner:

You can purchase flood insurance through an insurance agent. If your agent does not sell flood insurance, contact the NFIP Referral Call Center at 800-427-4661 for a referral. For more information, visit www.FloodSmart.gov or www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program, or call the NFIP helpdesk at 800-427-4661.

Click here for more information from FEMA.

You can find your

polling location here!

You can read more about the proposal here!

Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) EZ TAG customers may be impacted by issues originating with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) TxTAG tolling system. Customers who have HCTRA EZ TAG accounts and who use TxDOT’s Grand Parkway (or other TxDOT-operated toll roads) may have received bills in error for toll transactions which should have posted to their EZ TAG accounts.

For EZ TAG customers who were sent TxDOT/TxTag invoices in error, TxDOT is aware and shared the following message:

“For those customers with a valid EZ TAG account who were billed by TxTag, please disregard the bill. Please note, there is no need to contact TxTag or the Harris County Toll Road Authority regarding these tolls.” 

You can find more information on HCTRA's website.

Our office is always ready to assist you. Call or email us and we will do our best to help. Many State Agencies also have hotlines or citizen assistance offices to assist you. That contact information is available at this link, in alphabetical order: 

http://www.lrl.texas.gov/genInfo/stateAgencies.cfm

All of the relevant information our office has fathered in regard to response and recovery of Hurricane Harvey is posted immediately to our Facebook page. Be sure to "like" us so that you can have the most up to date information. Click the image below to find our page.

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