Florida flooding: Are you in a FEMA flood area?

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — FEMA draws flood risk maps and some areas in Central Florida have went more than 40 years without new maps.

Channel 9's investigative reporter Christopher Heath learned the space coast just started to get new maps because every time a map is drawn or changed, people fight the lines because of the coats associated with flood insurance.

If people suddenly fall with a flood plain, their mortgage provider will more than likely require flood insurance at a cost of several hundred dollars a month.

Jennifer Luke lives more than a mile from the nearest body of water in Deltona. Her home was moved into a flood zone in 2015 when FEMA redrew the maps.

“It’s immediate, the financial impact,” Luke said.

Luke and her husband tried to fight the change since it required them to spend $3,000 a year for flood insurance. Eventually, they sold the home and moved to DeLand.

"If I wanted to be in a flood zone, I would have lived over on the beach, and been beachfront,” Luke said.

The same thing happened to a Brevard County neighborhood.

"This neighborhood has been tested and there has never been a flood here,” said Rockledge resident Chris Leffler.

FEMA has a search tool on its website where people can plug in an address and see if their home falls in a flood risk area. However, the tool is only as good as the maps, as FEMA started doing updates five years ago by moving some people into flood zones and others out.

Cox Media Group