Special to L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE — St. Charles Parish will host four public meetings to answer residents’ questions about the National Flood Insurance Program and the recently passed Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which reinstated grandfathering.

The meetings are set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the East Regional Library, 160 W. Campus Drive in Destrehan; 6 p.m. Thursday at Cypress Lakes Country Club, 10 Villere Drive in Destrehan; 6 p.m. July 29 at the West Regional Library, 105 Lakewood Drive in Luling; and 6 p.m. July 31 at the Bayou Gauche Fire Station, 410 First Street in Bayou Gauche.

Residents who do not have a current flood insurance policy are asked to get covered in order to protect the value of their homes. Those with current policies should review their coverage to ensure it is adequate, St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. said

“It’s important for people to know that they need to have a flood insurance policy in effect to take advantage of the changes brought forth by the HFIAA,” he said. “Remember that policies are grandfathered, not homes. Flood insurance does remain inexpensive for the most part.”

Flood insurance rate maps are being analyzed and updated through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Levee Analysis and Mapping Procedure, which includes conducting new modeling, analyzing existing levees and determining new base flood elevations.

This process involves the St. Charles Parish Public Works Department, Coastal Zone Management and Geographic Information Systems offices, as well as several experts and scientists, local officials said.

For those with homes built before 1983:

Your home is considered ‘Pre-FIRM,’ meaning it was built prior to the existence of a flood insurance rate map in St. Charles Parish. Under the previous Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, these homes would have kept their grandfathered rates — regardless of any flood insurance rate map changes to base flood elevation or flood zone — until the home was substantially damaged, enlarged or sold.

Under the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, as long as a policy is in effect, the home’s flood insurance rate will be grandfathered.

For those with homes built after 1983:

Your home is considered ‘Post-FIRM,’ meaning it was built after the existence of a flood insurance rate map in St. Charles Parish. Under Biggert-Waters, there was no opportunity to maintain the grandfathering of premiums after a flood insurance rate map change.

Now, existing premiums will have the ability to be grandfathered regardless of map changes. Even areas that lose X-zone status will be assisted. A premium increase as the result of the loss of an X-zone will be far less severe under the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act.