The Town of Sullivan's Island is a participating community in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which means that you can purchase flood insurance to protect your property against the hazard of flooding.

YOU DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO LIVE NEAR WATER TO BE FLOODED!

• Floods can be caused by heavy storms, hurricanes, northeasters and extremely high tides.
• Just an inch of water on your property can cause costly damage.
• Most property insurance policies do not cover damage caused by flooding.
• Federal disaster assistance requires a Presidential declaration, which happens in less than 50% of flooding event.
• The most typical form of federal disaster assistance is a loan that must be repaid with interest.
• Average flood policy with $100,000 in building coverage costs $400 a year, versus a monthly disaster loan payment of $240 for many years on a $50,000 disaster loan.
• A flood policy will pay covered costs losses even if a disaster is not declared by the President.
• In most cases there is a 30-day waiting period after you purchase a flood policy before coverage is in effect, so don't wait until a flood is threatening.
• Flood insurance can be purchased on eligible residential buildings and/or their contents, or tenants can purchase contents-only coverage.
• The Town of Sullivan's Island is a participant in the NFIP Community Rating System (CRS), which means that residents receive a discount on their flood insurance premiums in recognition of efforts made by the Town of Sullivan's Island to reduce the impact of flooding.
• Your property within the Town of Sullivan's Island is located in Flood Zones AE or VE, which are high-risk areas.  You have a  26% chance of being flooded during a 30-year mortgage.  Compare this to your 4% chance of having a fire during that time.  Do you have fire insurance?
• Copies of Elevation Certificates can be obtained from the Charleston County Government.

The Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester County Council of Governments (CBD-COG) and the local County Library has obtained and cataloged copies of the most recent Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), Flood Boundary and Flood Map, FEMA's booklets on FIRMS, and several documents on flood insurance, protecting a building from flooding and community flood hazard mitigation.  

Community Rating System (CRS)

The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements.  As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community actions meeting the three goals of the CRS:  (1) reduce flood losses; (2) facilitate accurate insurance rating; and (3) promote the awareness of flood insurance.  The lower the number on the CRS class rating, the higher the flood insurance premium discounts to the citizens.