When, in 2002, the Federal Emergency Management Administration [FEMA] published drafts of new flood maps, parts of all 500 Lake Auman lakefront lots were shown in the "high hazard" flood zone, designated "AE," of the lake.
But, at the same time, they had determined the rise of the lake level in the hundred-year flood to be a mere three-quarters of a foot, easily contained by the two-foot high bulkheads. Gerhard Hergenhahn, in cooperation with the Moore County Planning Department, launched an official protest. By the time the maps were declared final in Octoer of 2006, FEMA had redrawn the flood zone line: it is now identical with the shoreline, thus showing all lots in the low risk zone "Shaded X," identifying a statistical flood risk of once every 100 to 500 years.
Because of the low-risk designation, banks need not require their mortgage holders to buy mandatory flood insurance or provide an elevation certificate by a surveyor that would prove the low risk of the home. Instead, the homes automatically, without survey, qualify for the much less expensive Preferred Rate Flood Insurance.
It is up to homeowners to decide if they want to buy such protection, based on considerations that include the elevation of the home above the lake and where the home is situated on the lake. Though flooding from rising water is highly unlikely, wave action spawned by a severe stationary hurricane might put some homes at risk of water penetration into the lower level.
In 1979, the borders of the lake lots were surveyed for the subdivision plats before there was a dam or lake. As an unavoidable consequence, the final reach of the lake and the erected bulkheads deviate from their plat surveys, showing large parts of many lots "underwater."
But, by the covenants, the title reaches only to the water or bulkhead line, independent of the map. This very unusual legal situation made it desirable to have an explicit declaration by the County Floodplain Administrator, which declares the lots to be outside the flood zone and allows surveyors to confirm this, even if the map appears to contradict.
This letter has been received now and was available as a handout to the meeting participants. It will later be published on the Association's web site.
[Gerhard Hergenhahn contributed much of the text, along with his fine eye for detail, to this report.]
