Floodplains

The City of Hurst participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and Community Rating System. The City's rating is 8 on a scale of 10. (The best score for other Texas cities is 5). The City Engineer also serves as the Floodplain Administrator and can be reached as 817.788.7076.

• Texas Department of Insurance Urges Homeowners to Consider Flood Insurance
• National Flood Insurance Program website
• Hurst Maps and GIS
• For a list of properties for which the City currently has elevation certificates on file, please click here.

The Local Flood Hazard

The City of Hurst has six major watersheds. Each of these watersheds has areas that are subject to flooding, both from rising stream waters and localized street and yard flooding. Stream flooding areas have been mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); however, localized street flooding has not been mapped. Your property may have never been flooded or may be shown on the FEMA maps to be outside the mapped limits of flooding.

However, most areas of the City have yet to see the record 1% annual chance storm event, and there is no guarantee that your property will never flood. Statistics show that the 1% annual chance storm event has approximately a 26% chance of occurring over a 30-year mortgage period. This web page should give you some ideas of what you can do to protect your property.

Citizens of Hurst can obtain basic flood map information, including information on floodway extents and flood depths, mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements, flood insurance requirements and inquiries, and flood zone determinations from the Engineering Division located at City Hall or by calling 817.788.7076.

Cost of Flooding

There may not be much water in your house, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be much damage.  Only one inch of water in an average home can cause more than $25,000 in damage.  A handy visual representation of this is the Cost of Flooding tool developed by FEMA.  It is a simple interactive devise to help people see how the depth of flooding translates to damage costs. You can access the tool at the following internet web site:

https://www.floodsmart.gov/costOfFlooding/index.html

Flood Safety

Before the flood:

1. Check with the Engineering Division (817.788.7076) on the extent of past flooding in your area. City staff can tell you about the causes of repetitive flooding, what the City is doing about it, and what would be an appropriate flood protection level. They can also visit your property to discuss flood protection alternatives.

2. Prepare for flooding by doing the following:

• Know the flood safety guidance discussed below.
• Know how to shut off the electricity and gas to your house when a flood comes.
• Make a list of emergency numbers and identify a safe place to go.
• Make a household inventory
• Put insurance policies, valuable papers, medicine, etc. in a safe place.
• Develop a response plan - consult the American Red Cross website for information on creating an emergency preparedness plan.
• The American Red Cross has also published the brochure Repairing Your Flooded Home, which provides information on planning and preparing for a flood event as well as repairing after a flood event.

3. Consider some permanent flood protection measures.

• Mark your fuse box to show the circuits to the floodable areas. Turning off the power to these floodable areas can reduce property damage (fires) and save lives.
• Consider flood protection alternatives such as flood walls or berms.
• Note that some flood protection measures may require permits. Please check with the Engineering
• Division and/or the Building Inspections for more information.
• A copy of Homeowner's Guide to Retrofitting: Six Ways to Protect Your House from Flooding are available at no charge to download from FEMA.

4. Talk to the Engineering Division for information on financial assistance.

• If you are interested in elevating your building above the flood level, or if you are interested in selling your house to the City, the City can apply for Federal grants to cover 75% or 90% of the cost.
• Get a flood insurance policy - it will help pay for repairs after a flood and, in some cases, it will help pay the costs of elevating a substantially damaged building.

5. Get a flood insurance policy.

• Homeowner's insurance policies do not cover damage from floods. However, some owners have purchased flood insurance because it was required by the bank when they received a mortgage or home improvement loan.
• Don't wait until the next flood to buy flood insurance protection. In most cases, there is a 30-day waiting period before the National Flood Insurance Program coverage takes effect.
• Contact your insurance agent for more information on rates and coverage.

During/After the flood:

Ask for a licensed electrician, plumber, etc to check or turn on your power, water, and/or gas. Do not wade through flood waters due to the danger of pollutants, debris (nails, glass, etc), and animals (snakes, ants, etc). Flood waters are often murky and depth is hard to determine. Do not drive through flood waters! Turn around, don't drown! If emergency evacuation is necessary, please heed the warnings of the emergency management and follow the instructions to evacuate - it saves lives of those around you and possibly of the emergency workers responding.

Flood Insurance

The purchase of federal flood insurance is highly recommended. Basic homeowner's insurance policies don't cover damage from floods. The City of Hurst participates in the National flood Insurance Program (NFIP) which means that federally subsidized flood insurance is available to everyone in the City. Remember there is a 30-day waiting period before a policy becomes effective.

Some people have purchased flood insurance because it was required by the bank or loan company when they obtained a mortgage or home improvement loan. Usually these policies just cover the building's structure and not the contents. During the kind of flooding that happens in the City of Hurst, there is usually more damage to furniture and the contents then there is to the structure. Remember that a flood insurance policy must be renewed each year.

Mandatory Purchase Requirement: The mandatory purchase requirement applies to all forms of federal or federally related financial assistance for buildings located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). This requirement affects loans and grants for the purchase, construction, repair, or improvement of any publicly or privately owned buildings in the SFHA, including machinery, equipment, fixtures and furnishings contained in such buildings. If a building is located in a SFHA, the agency or lender is required by law to require the recipient to purchase a flood insurance policy on the building.

For more information about flood insurance contact:

• FEMA 
• The City of Hurst Public Library
• Contact your insurance agent
• Public Works Department, Engineering Division

Property Protection Measures

Rather than wait for a flood to occur, you can act now to protect your property from flood damage. Various alternatives are available to help minimize flooding. If the floor level of your property or structure is lower than the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) located on the City's Flood insurance Rate map (FIRM), consider ways to prevent flooding from occurring such as retrofitting your building. "Retrofitting" means altering your building to eliminate or reduce flood damage.

Retrofitting measures include:

• Elevating the building so that flood waters do not enter or reach any damageable portion of it, 
• Constructing barriers out of fill or concrete between the building and flood waters, 
• "Dry flooding" to make the building walls and floor watertight so water does not enter. 
• "Wet floodproofing" to modify the structure and relocate the contents so that when flood waters enter the building there is little or no damage, and 
• Preventing basement flooding from server backup or sump pump failure.

There are several good references on retrofitting in The City of Hurst Library. Many of these will inform you about retrofitting techniques and help you decide which is best for you. Concerned citizens and the general public can obtain information on flood protection assistance from The City of Hurst's Engineering Division at 817.788.7076. Flood Protection assistance provided by The City of Hurst is site-specific.

The Natural and Beneficial Functions of the Local Floodplain

The unimproved and improved channel systems throughout the City of Hurst provide a wide range of benefits to the human and natural systems. They provide flood storage and conveyance, reduce flood velocities and flood peaks. Water quality is improved through the channel bottoms’ ability to filter nutrients and impurities from runoff and process organic wastes. The local channel bottoms provide breeding and feeding for fish and wildlife, create and enhance waterfowl habitat, and protect habitats for rare and endangered species. The floodplains are an important asset. They provide open space, aesthetic pleasure, and areas for active and passive uses.

Floodplain Development Requirements

All development in The City of Hurst needs local and state permits. Contact the Engineering Division at (817) 788-7080 for advice before you build, fill, place a manufactured home or otherwise develop.

The zoning ordinance, flood control ordinance and the international Building Codes have special provisions regulating construction and other developments within floodplains. Without these provisions, flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) would not be available to property owners in The City of Hurst.

Any development in the floodplain without a permit is illegal: such activity can be reported to the Engineering Division at 817.788.7080.

Substantial Improvement / Damage Requirements

What is substantial improvement? The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requires that any reconstruction rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement, must conform or meet the same construction requirements as a new building and be constructed above the minimum Base Flood Elevation (BFE) listed on The City's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).

What is substantial damage? Substantial damage means damage of any origin sustained by a building or structure when the cost of restoring the building to its pre-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the building before the damage occurred. Substantial damage is determined regardless of the actual repair work performed.

The City of Hurst requires by ordinance that any substantial improvement or substantial damage improvement must have a building permit. Permit information can be obtained from Building Inspections located at 1505 Precinct Line Rd. in City Hall or by calling 817.788.7088.

Drainage System Maintenance

It is illegal in the City of Hurst to dump any type of debris into a channel, creek or drainage ditch. This debris can become entangled in culverts and shallow streambeds, channels or drainage ditches and impede drainage causing the flow of water to back up. Citizens of Hurst should also keep drainage ditches on their property free of debris, foliage and vegetation that would impede the flow of water.

Debris dumping should be reported to the Public Works Dispatch at 817.788.7212.

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