The City of Powder Springs announced that it has maintained its Class 6 rating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS), a program set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to encourage communities to put policies in place that minimize the risk of flood damage, and to promote flood insurance among their residents.

The Class 6 rating makes Powder Springs residents eliglible for a 20 percent discount on flood insurance.

According to the FEMA website:

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) was implemented in 1990 as a voluntary program for recognizing and encouraging community floodplain management activities that exceed minimum NFIP standards. Any community fully compliant with NFIP floodplain management requirements may apply to join the CRS.

Residents within communities that participate in the program are eligible to receive discounts on their flood insurance based on the community’s rating.

For further information read the press release from the City of Powder Springs, reprinted below:

The City of Powder Springs has retained its current rating as a Class 6 in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS).

The rating was determined by the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The floodplain management activities implemented by the city qualify it for a 20-percent discount on flood insurance premiums for NFIP policies issued or renewed in Special Flood Hazard Areas.

This savings is a tangible result of the flood mitigation activities implemented to protect lives and reduce property damage.

Among the city’s efforts that went toward retaining its rating are targeting environmentally sensitive areas such as floodplains and wetlands along Noses Creek and Powder Springs Creek for green space acquisition, and exploring funding opportunities to help fund the acquisition.

Powder Springs adopted a model post construction stormwater ordinance in October of 2020, and all ordinances meet the requirements of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water District.

The city also encourages use of conservation subdivision designations in appropriate areas for the protection of sensitive natural resources.

The city does not allow development in the floodplain unless a variance is granted, and many of the new subdivisions have floodplain areas owned by the homeowners’ associations.

The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management practices that exceed the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). More than 1,500 communities participate nationwide.

In CRS communities, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community’s efforts that address the three goals of the program:reduce and avoid flood damage to insurable property, strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the National Flood Insurance Program, and foster comprehensive floodplain management.

CRS Classes are rated from 9 to 1. Most communities enter the program at a CRS Class 9 or Class 8 rating, which entitles residents in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) to a 5% discount on their flood insurance premiums for a Class 9 or a 10% discount for Class 8.

As a community engages in additional mitigation activities, its residents become eligible for increased NFIP policy premium discounts.

Each CRS Class improvement produces a 5% greater discount on flood insurance premiums for properties in the SFHA.

Additional information on the Community Rating System can be found at https://www.fema.gov/floodplain-management/community-rating-system