This letter is to publicize the importance of flood insurance and information to obtain a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) for individual properties by mailing it to local lending institutes, insurance agents, and real estate agents. This activity is one of the activities that Fairfax County conducts to continue to participate in the Community Rating System (CRS) program that will help the county residents to receive a discount on their flood insurance premium.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am writing to advise you that Fairfax County participates in the Community Rating System (CRS), which is part of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Under the CRS program, communities qualify for lower flood insurance premiums by undertaking certain flood protection activities. One such activity is the dissemination of information to the public on how to obtain Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) flood zone determinations for individual properties.

Fairfax County provides FIRM determinations to the general public, real estate agencies, lending institutions and insurance agencies. If a property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the Flood Hazard Zone and the Base Flood Elevation (if applicable) will be provided as part of the FIRM determination. As you are aware, if the purchase of a property in a SFHA is backed by federally insured or financed loans, flood insurance is required at the time of purchase. In addition, if applicable, the County may provide information such as flood hazard data for areas outside the FEMA SFHA, flood depth at properties, historic flood elevations, and Resource Protection Areas. To determine if a property is located in Fairfax County’s SFHA, please visit Virginia Flood Risk Information System (VFRIS).

A FIRM determination may be obtained by contacting the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), Stormwater Planning Division (SWPD) at (703) 324-5500. FEMA has approved numerous revisions and amendments to the FIRMs since the date they were first issued. Amendments to the FIRMs may effectively remove certain properties from the SFHA but may not always result in a physical revision to the published FIRM. The updated FIRM, revisions and amendments are on file with SWPD or can be obtained from FEMA Map Service Center. You may also call a FEMA Map Specialist at 1-877-FEMA-MAP (1-877-336-2627) for information on the FEMA map amendment process.

Another CRS activity is hazard disclosures. Pursuant to § 55.1-703 of the Virginia Code, owners of residential real properties are required to furnish buyers with a property disclosure statement for certain matters that may affect the decision to purchase such real property. These include informing the buyer to exercise their own due diligence on whether the property of interest is located in a SFHA, dam break inundation zones, conservation or other easements, and Resource Protection Areas.

In addition, § 55.1-708.2 of the Virginia Code includes required disclosures pertaining to repetitive loss. An owner of residential real property located in the Commonwealth who has actual knowledge that the dwelling unit is a repetitive risk loss structure is required to disclose this to the purchaser. The term “repetitive risk loss” means that two or more claims of more than $1,000 were paid by the NFIP within any rolling 10-year period, since 1978.

We would appreciate you sharing this information with your subsidiary offices. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact me at (703) 324-5500, TTY 711, or Fax (703) 802-5955.

Sincerely,

Dipmani Kumar

Chief, Watershed Modeling and Analysis Branch