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Flood Insurance

Many in flood zones, don't know it

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/12597064.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_business

More than 80 percent of South Florida is prone to flooding, yet fewer than half of the area's homes are covered by flood insurance. And many homes that were flooded by Hurricane Katrina are in areas that aren't supposed to flood.

BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA
bgarcia@herald.com

When Al and Lorna Hawkins bought their far South Miami-Dade home, the couple didn't buy flood insurance because they were told it wasn't required.

After Hurricane Katrina dumped up to 16 inches of rain in six hours, the couple was left with six inches in their house. Carpeting, flooring, drywall and furniture were ruined.

''We might have to get loans to cover the cost of repairs,'' said Al Hawkins.

Like Hawkins, several hundred homeowners and small-business owners in parts of Miami-Dade County where the flood risk is considered minimal are now looking at extensive water damage and expensive repair bills. If they don't carry flood insurance, they are on their own; the damage won't be covered by windstorm or other insurance.

Here's the reality:

About 80 percent of the Miami-Dade is in a flood zone. Yet, only 42 percent of the homes carry flood insurance, according to data from the National Flood Insurance Program and Claritas Corp.

In Broward County, about 90 percent of which is in a flood zone, just 52 percent of homeowners have flood insurance.

Though Broward had no reports of flooding from Katrina, the story was far different for Miami-Dade. The county's own survey found 162 homes with significant flood damage. Many were in areas not designated as flood zones, including sections of Homestead, Cutler Ridge, Richmond, South Miami Heights, West Quail Roost, Naranja and Leisure City.

South Florida is not alone in being underinsured for flooding. In some coastal counties in Alabama and Mississippi devastated by Katrina, less then 25 percent of the homes carry flood insurance. Less than 4 percent have the coverage in Alabama's Mobile County. Some New Orleans parishes were better protected with nearly 60 percent of homes covered, according to reports.

Actually, the percentage of homes in South Florida with flood insurance coverage is higher than the norm, which is about 10 percent in most of the country, says Robert Hunter, director of insurance research for the Consumer Federation of America and a former federal insurance administrator.

AVAILABLE TO ALL

Flood insurance is available to all homeowners through the National Flood Insurance Program, created in 1968. Yet, unless it's specifically required by mortgage bankers, few homeowners purchase it. Hunter says many bankers don't even demand flood coverage for homes in flood-risk areas.

The maximum coverage is $250,000 for the house and $100,000 for contents. Deductibles range from $500 to $1,000.

Premiums, ranging from $317 to more than $1,000, are determined by a home's location and elevation. Rates can be reduced by having an elevation study done.

The flood maps that determine flood zones -- and ultimately, what the policies cost -- are ordered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the flood insurance program, and drawn with assistance from local officials.

The distinction between a flood zone and non-flood zone depends on what is called the ''100-year flood level'' -- the elevation at which there is a 1 percent chance of floodwaters reaching during a calendar year.

Any area below that elevation is considered a flood hazard area. Anything above it is outside the floodplain.

Business owner Pura Baker was planning to buy flood insurance once her Homestead sushi restaurant was financially established. Now, she fears her business on Krome Avenue in downtown Homestead, which she opened more than a year ago, may close if she can't afford repairs after flooding caused by Katrina.

The bill to dry the dark-green carpet was $500 and the freezer needs repairs. The contents of the freezer, including fresh tuna, were ruined.

Julio Brea, Homestead's director of public works, acknowledges downtown Homestead isn't part of the county's current floodplain. Just four in 10 property owners in that area carry flood coverage.

MAPS UPDATED

The flood-zone maps for Miami-Dade -- first drawn in 1972 and updated in the early 1990s -- have been redrawn and will be released for public comment later this month.

It's possible that some areas such as Sweetwater, which flooded extensively after 1999's Hurricane Irene and isn't now part of the floodplain, could be included, says Michael Gambino, supervisor of the floodplain management section of the county's Department of Environmental Resource Management.

''Because Miami-Dade County is so flat, there could still be considerable damage even before the water gets very high,'' says Carlos Castillo, director of the county's Office of Emergency Management.

Broward is just beginning to revise its floodplain maps, says John Krouse, manager of the water engineering and license section in Broward's environmental resources division. Some of Broward's floodplain maps were revised in the late 1990s.

Insurance experts say it's a wise move for homeowners and business owners in coastal areas of Florida to buy flood insurance, even if the homes aren't in flood zones.

Jennifer Messemer, whose boyfriend's South Dade home suffered extensive damage, understands that most people would choose to save the money if they're told they live in an area that doesn't require flood insurance. But now she advises: Buy the coverage anyway.

''You just need one instance like this and you're one step above being destitute,'' she says. ``Luckily, we have credit cards.''

Herald business writer Monica Hatcher contributed to this report.

ICE (In Case of Emergency)

Miami Herald
ICE on cellphones speeds rescue
Several local fire-rescue and police departments are promoting a simple plan to help them provide better emergency care and, possibly, save lives: ICE.
By WANDA J. DeMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com

When Broward County paramedics reached the mangled car that had smashed into a tree and came to rest on the side of the roadway, they immediately started working on the young woman trapped inside, bleeding profusely from head injuries.

Since the woman was incoherent and carried no identification, rescue workers worried worried about her medical background. Does she suffer from seizures? Is she a hemophiliac? Does she have any allergies to certain medications?

There's an easy solution for this type of situation, paramedics say. They want every person to have personal information stored in their cellphone, which would serve as a high-tech medical alert tool.

The process even has a name -- ICE, an acronym for In Case of Emergency -- and it's already being used in Europe and is now being pushed in different areas around the United States.

''Without emergency contact information, medical personnel are behind the 8-Ball when trying to treat someone,'' said Captain Ken Kronheim, of the Broward Sheriff's Office

On Friday, BSO's Fire Rescue officially will launch ICE at a press conference, with help from two emergency rescue workers from the United Kingdom -- where the year-old campaign was developed.

'If a paramedic needed to contact someone, it was just a case of going through `obvious' numbers like Mum, Dad, etcetera -- but they may not be the person you'd want contacted,'' said Matt Ware, head of communications for the East Anglian Ambulance Service in eastern England.

He and British paramedic Bob Brotchie will be in Broward Friday for the ICE rollout.

The British paramedics used a survey conducted in the country last year that showed 75 percent of the people interviewed didn't have emergency contact information on them. But more than 85 percent carried a cellphone.

The concept has gained momentum since the London terrorist bombings last month after emergency workers had difficulty identifying victims and notifying next of kin.

Soon Internet messages about the ICE program were popping up around the globe.

''It seems like a simple fix for a problem I've run into hundreds of times during my career,'' said BSO Fire Rescue Captain Dave Erdman. ``I can't tell you how many seizure, overdose, diabetic, stroke and trauma patients I've treated over the years who were unable to communicate..''

Miami police agree contact information on phones is helpful for hospital personnel and law enforcement.

''We do look at people's phone numbers when there is an emergency, and it can be especially useful when an officer is working a serious injury where next of kin needs to be contacted,'' said Miami police spokeswoman Herminia Salas-Jacobson. ``It's one more tool for hospital and fire-rescue personnel and law enforcement officers.''

Over the last several weeks, fire departments and police agencies across the country, like Chicago, San Francisco, Lexington and Oklahoma City, have issued information about ICE.

Suburban Chicago police agencies and fire departments are planning a promotion this year in local schools, targeting the younger generation who have cellphones, but do not generally carry contact information.

The idea is just starting to take hold in South Florida.

'When I heard about it [in an e-mail] I said to myself `Wow! What a great idea,' '' said Samantha Buchholz, 19, of Coral Springs. ``I'm putting my contact numbers in my cellphone.''

Local fire and police departments are sending out internal bulletins alerting their personnel about ICE.

''We put a memo out Aug. 2 alerting everyone and asking that they get the word out and start checking cellphones,'' said Stephen McInerny, assistant chief of operations for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.

``This new tool will prove very valuable because we've run across medical emergencies where someone is lying on the side of the street having a seizure and we don't have any information. If that person had several emergency numbers in their phone under ICE, that would enable us to provide a better level of customer and emergency medical care.''

While plugging emergency numbers under one name in a cellphone is not a foolproof plan, it will help those who deal with victims, rescue workers say.

''We hope to accomplish removing the detective work from our duties,'' Erdman said. ``If someone had ICE programmed in their phones, we wouldn't have to play medical detective when someone was unconscious or unable to speak to us.''

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Jury Duty Scam

From Snopes.com

Scam:   Identity thieves trick the unwary into revealing their personal details by telling them they've failed to report for jury duty and warrants for their arrest are being issued.

Status:   Real fraud, potential for financial harm unknown.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2005]

Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury duty scam. Here's how it works:

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest.

The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for "verification" purposes.

Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information ? exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.

So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state.

It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential information.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.

Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone call.

This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information.

It doesn't matter *why* they are calling ? all the reasons are just different variants of the same scam.

Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.

Origins:   This helpful heads-up began appearing in inboxes in August 2005. While this particular attempt to coerce information from potential identity theft victims is not new, it is real. In a number of U.S. states, con artists have been contacting people by phone to assert those they've targeted have evaded jury duty and announce warrants are being issued for their arrest. When the about-to-be-duped protest they never received such notifications, that surely a mistake has been made, the sharpies go after what they really want, which is their pigeons' personal and financial information. Under threat of being hauled off in paddy wagons unless they succeed in straightening out this terrible mess, many folks who would otherwise be more wary about what they reveal of their personal data will find themselves reeling off their birth dates and social security and credit card numbers in an effort to convince their callers the notifications that never arrived actually went to other addresses or were never meant for them in the first place.

However, these calls conclude — whether those who have been approached are left with the impression they've failed to show up for jury duty and are still expected to discharge their civic duties, or that a big misunderstanding has now been resolved — their true purpose has been accomplished: the scam artists now have the information necessary to open accounts or charge goods in the names of their victims.

The scheme outlined in the message quoted above might be categorized as a "social engineering" scam — a technique which preys upon people's unquestioning acceptance of authority and willingness to cooperate in order to extract from them sensitive information.

On 22 August 2005, the Minnesota Judicial Branch issued a warning about the bogus calls. The Minnesota Judicial Branch points out its courts always use the mail to send jury service summons, communicating by telephone only after prospective jurors have returned completed summons information forms.

In New Mexico, Rep. Tom Udall has been warning citizens about the scam. As he points out, Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information over the telephone. Most contact between a federal court and a private citizen is conducted by mail.

The Superior Court of California has posted an alert on its web site, warning that identity thieves posing as court officials have been trying to get confidential information through phone calls about jury duty. Once again, callers have been telling potential victims they failed to report for jury duty, then demanding their Social Security numbers. While court personnel may occasionally call people at home, "We never ask for Social Security numbers or personal identifying information," said Marita Ford, chief deputy executive officer for Riverside Superior Court.

Though the 'jury duty' information-gleaning scam has been garnering attention in 2005, it is not new. In 2004, residents of Franklin County, Ohio, were hit by this scam. At least five people called the Franklin County Municipal Court in September 2004 to ask where they were to report for duty after someone telephoned to obtain personal information. In Ohio, as in Minnesota, jury summonses are sent by mail and court workers do not call potential jurors to ask for Social Security numbers or dates of birth.

In February 2004, the scam was active in Charles County, Maryland. Once again, the fraud came to the attention of authorities via residents who had been contacted by phone afterwards asking the County Clerk about the attempts to wheedle personal information from them. They too had been asked for birth dates and Social Security numbers, that time by callers who claimed such intelligences were needed to assemble a pool of jurors for selection in upcoming trials. The Charles County Circuit Court does not telephone residents who are selected for jury duty. Potential jurors are sent notices in the mail.

In 2001 the Erie County Commissioner of Jurors reported someone in that area had been staging telephone scams about jury duty in Chautauqua, Seneca, and Jefferson counties, seeking information about home addresses and bank accounts allegedly "for reimbursement purposes." Targets of that fraud were being told by the swindlers attempting to deceive them that this information was required for the purpose of directly depositing their $40-a-day jury duty stipends. Erie County officials point out their jurors' checks come directly from Albany and not from local jurors offices, nor are these payments deposited directly into jurors' bank accounts.

Though the 'jury duty' information phishing scheme is not new, it has been heavily put to use around the U.S. in August 2005. Be wary of any calls of this nature and refuse to give out your personal information.

Barbara "verdict: not foolish" Mikkelson

How to Avoid Falling Victim to 'Jury Duty' Scams:

• Court workers will not telephone to say you've missed jury duty or that they are assembling juries and need to pre-screen those who might be selected to serve on them, so dismiss as fraudulent phones call of this nature. About the only time you would hear by telephone (rather than by mail) about anything having to do with jury service would be after you have mailed back your completed questionnaire, and even then only rarely.
• Do not give out bank account, social security, or credit card numbers over the phone if you didn't initiate the call, whether it be to someone trying to sell you something or to someone who claims to be from a bank or government department. If such callers insist upon "verifying" such information with you, have them read the data to you from their notes, with you saying yea or nay to it rather than the other way around.
• Examine your credit card and bank account statements every month, keeping an eye peeled for unauthorized charges. Immediately challenge items you did not approve.

Last updated:   26 August 2005