Surviving Fay and Mortgage Companies

It's now Sunday, a week from when Fay was first named. I was very excited this time one week ago. Chasing storms has always been a passion of mine, I continue to be fascinated with hurricanes. Yes, to those seasoned veterans out there, you might call me naive. I am totally new to coastal living, and I still don't live on the coast, just close enough to be glued to NOAA when a storm rolls into the Gulf waters. Here I am in Tampa, and the storm managed to plague the whole state of FL everywhere but Tampa.

Funny thing was, we live in the last evacuation zone for Florida, and our flood risk for this area is "minimal". And for that matter, when our insurance company gave me the quotes for the policy, they told me I needed the least amount of coverage. This is kind of funny to me. I lived on a mountain in TN on the edge of the Smokies. My house flooded. And from the experience I had there, floods start at the bottom and rise. Last time I checked, most people put their furniture on the floor, so the most damage would be done in 4" of water or 4'...I opted for as much coverage as we could possibly get.

During the time that the news was reporting 24" of rain in Melbourne and alligators coming into the streets, we received a letter from our mortgage company stating that they had determined we no longer needed a flood policy and that they would be adjusting our monthly payment amounts to reflect this in our escrow. HA! Now I can see why living in FL receives so many furrowed brows. Well, mighty home mortgagers, we will be saving the difference we are saving on our monthly payments in our savings so that we can make our own payments to our flood policy renewal. From what I've seen of a mere tropical storm, no zone is a No-Flood-Zone!