CBS - KCAL - South LA Homeowners Forced To Carry Pricey Flood Insurance They Don't Feel They Need

Published Date: 01/17/2024

When the Map Gets It Wrong: The Hidden Cost of FEMA’s Flood Zone Mistakes

For many Californians, flood insurance is something you associate with coastal homes, mountain runoff, or rivers that overflow during a storm. But for some South Los Angeles homeowners, the cost of flood protection has arrived — even though the water hasn’t.

In a recent KCAL 9 News investigation, residents of a quiet South LA neighborhood discovered they were suddenly required to carry flood insurance policies costing hundreds of dollars a year, despite having no history — or even risk — of flooding.

At the center of the issue is FEMA’s flood map system, a decades-old federal tool that determines whether a property falls into a designated flood zone. That designation can automatically trigger a lender-mandated insurance requirement, even if homeowners — and local officials — question whether the risk actually exists.

1. A Flood Zone That Doesn’t Make Sense

For homeowner Leslie Goodwin, the news came as a shock.

“I thought in my head, this has got to be a mistake,” she told KCAL. “I’m not in the mountains. I’m not at the coastline. I’m not in the canyons. This is the middle of the city.”

Yet, for the past three years, Goodwin has been paying for a flood insurance policy she didn’t want — and doesn’t believe she needs.

Her home sits inside a tiny blue square on FEMA’s flood map, representing what the agency classifies as a “Special Flood Hazard Area” — meaning there’s a 1% annual chance of flooding.

That 1% may sound small, but it’s significant enough to trigger federal insurance mandates. Mortgage lenders are required to ensure that any property inside those blue zones carries flood coverage — even if the risk is localized to a few houses.

Zoom in on the map, and you’ll see the oddity: Goodwin’s small cluster of homes — maybe half a dozen — is blue. The rest of the surrounding neighborhood, shaded orange, is considered lower risk, with only a 0.2% annual flood probability.

To anyone who knows the area, the classification feels arbitrary.

2. “Nobody Could Tell Me Why”

Goodwin turned to local agencies for answers. She called FEMA. She called the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. She even reached out to her insurance agent — Karl Susman, a veteran independent broker who’s been featured in several KCAL insurance reports.

“I actually contacted FEMA and I actually contacted the City of Los Angeles Building and Safety to try and find out specifically what was the cause,” Susman explained. “And I’m sure this will come as a major shock to you — nobody could tell me.”

FEMA eventually told KCAL that the area’s classification was based on “topographical depressions” — subtle low-lying spots that could, in theory, accumulate runoff water during a major storm.

But for longtime residents like Danny Davis, who’s lived three doors down from Goodwin for more than 30 years, that explanation doesn’t hold water.

“We’ve had El Niño come through a couple of times,” Davis said. “The street was pretty full, but it never came over the curb.”

3. The Financial Burden of a Technicality

Despite having no history of flooding, both homeowners are now paying hundreds each year — simply because a federal map says they must.

Goodwin’s annual premium recently jumped to nearly $1,000. Davis’s policy costs about $700.

They can’t simply drop the coverage. Their lenders require it as a condition of their mortgages. Until that blue square disappears from FEMA’s database, their hands are tied.

“It’s not like you can just call your bank and say, ‘Hey, this doesn’t make sense,’” Susman said. “Once you’re in a FEMA flood zone, you’re in until proven otherwise.”

This situation highlights a little-known truth about flood insurance in the U.S.: the map controls the market.

When FEMA designates an area as high-risk, lenders must enforce flood coverage, regardless of local geography or recent weather patterns. Even if FEMA’s data is outdated — and many maps are — the classification stands until formally challenged.

4. Why FEMA Maps Can Be Wrong

FEMA’s flood maps, officially called Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), were designed decades ago to identify flood-prone regions and manage risk across the country.

The problem? Many of those maps haven’t been updated with modern data — or reflect engineering assumptions that no longer hold true.

In dense urban areas like Los Angeles, where drainage systems, elevation grades, and infrastructure have evolved dramatically over the past few decades, small mapping errors can have large financial consequences.

A few feet of contour mismeasurement can place an entire block inside a flood zone. And once a lender sees that classification, insurance becomes mandatory.

Even FEMA admits the limitations. According to a 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, nearly 60% of FEMA’s maps are outdated, and many rely on topographical data from the 1970s and 1980s.

That’s particularly problematic in California, where urbanization, drought cycles, and engineered flood control systems have changed local hydrology significantly since those maps were drawn.

5. How Homeowners Can Challenge Their Flood Zone

If you believe your property has been incorrectly placed in a FEMA-designated flood zone, you’re not powerless — but the process takes time, patience, and documentation.

Homeowners can file what’s known as a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) with FEMA. These requests use elevation certificates and certified surveys to prove that the property sits above the base flood elevation — meaning it’s at lower risk than FEMA’s model suggests.

If FEMA agrees, it can officially remove your property from the high-risk zone, releasing you from the lender’s flood insurance requirement.

However, the process can cost several hundred dollars in survey fees and may take months.

“It’s not easy, but it’s possible,” Susman noted. “For homeowners who really believe the designation is wrong, a certified elevation survey is the best first step.”

Until then, homeowners like Goodwin and Davis remain stuck — paying for protection they’ll probably never use.

6. A Bigger Policy Question

Goodwin’s case may seem like a small neighborhood dispute, but it raises a much larger policy question: Is the nation’s flood-mapping system keeping pace with reality?

As climate change alters weather patterns and sea levels, FEMA faces enormous pressure to update and refine its maps nationwide. Yet the agency operates on limited budgets and often relies on local governments to provide updated data, which can vary in quality and frequency.

That creates a paradox: while many flood maps underestimate risk in coastal or riverine areas, others overestimate it in urban inland zones like South LA.

The result is an inconsistent system that both overburdens some homeowners and leaves others underprepared.

7. Shopping Smarter: What You Can Do If You’re “Mapped In”

Even if you can’t remove your property from a flood zone immediately, there are ways to reduce your costs or coverage responsibly.

Susman shared one practical tip for homeowners whose lenders require flood insurance but who believe the risk is negligible:

“If they really feel like, ‘I would not carry this type of coverage — I’m literally doing it because my lender mandates it,’ then they can get a dwelling-only policy,” he said.

A dwelling-only flood policy covers the structure but not the contents of your home, significantly reducing premiums while still meeting lender requirements.

Homeowners can also:

• Compare policies from both the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and private flood insurers.
• Ask their lender if lower coverage limits would still satisfy mortgage terms.
• Work with a licensed agent familiar with FEMA map challenges and coverage alternatives.

8. A Local Story, a National Lesson

What’s happening in South LA is a microcosm of a national issue: flood maps that don’t match the lived reality of the communities they govern.

Whether it’s inland neighborhoods marked as “high-risk” with no history of flooding, or coastal zones where FEMA’s models underestimate the effects of sea-level rise, the gap between modeling and experience is widening.

For now, the financial burden falls on homeowners like Goodwin and Davis — paying hundreds of dollars a year for protection against a peril that’s never materialized.

“It’s just this little blue square,” Goodwin said, “and it’s literally six, seven houses.”

Until those maps are redrawn or successfully challenged, that little blue square carries big consequences — a reminder that in the world of insurance, risk isn’t always where it rains, but where it’s mapped.