Homeowners across the country say they are drowning in unnecessary flood insurance bills -- due to errors in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's redesigned flood maps.
In 2012, FEMA began updating its outdated paper inventory of maps with new digital ones. Millions of homes ended up in newly drawn high-risk flood zones, including houses built on high ground and away from water. As a result, homeowners with mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders within these high-risk zones were required by law to carry additional flood insurance.
San Diego resident Laura Clemons is just one of thousands of homeowners who got the surprising news last year, when she was told that her home, on top of a hill, had suddenly moved into a high-risk flood zone.
"I got a letter from my mortgage company, telling me I was going to have to pay flood insurance, which was a joke because I live across the street from a canyon," Clemons said. "They gave us three months to notify them or they were going to start charging me $2,000 a year."
She got in touch with local land surveyor Michael Pallamary, who had been working on similar cases in the San Diego area.
Pallamary learned quickly that the problem had been affecting people all across the country.
"The maps are all in error," he told Fox News. "And because of the erroneous maps, they're requiring these homeowners to purchase very, very expensive flood insurance and this is absolutely absurd. These are not flood-prone properties. They're high and dry and safe and secure."
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Why do we draw your attention to bureaucratic errors? Because we want to demonstrate that, contrary to what our President seems to believe, federal bureaucracies cannot always solve the problems facing this country. In fact, the opposite is true: the incompetence, inefficiency, and corruption that plagues bureaucratic systems often make bad problems worse.
State and local governments are in a much better position to address the issues facing their communities, and they should be given the power to do so. The first step in this process is to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, which is exactly what a Convention of States could do. Click here to learn more.
