The Federal Emergency Management Agency is offering two years of eligibility for the program’s Preferred Risk Policy, the cheapest option, to home owners and small businesses whose properties are in a newly-designated special flood hazard area.

The deal will be available after the redrawn maps take effect, in most cases this fall or next winter. The preferred risk plan discounts the full rate by 75 percent to 80 percent.

FEMA, which has been modernizing the maps for the last six years, has run into considerable resistance from both citizens and legislators who think its changes are wrong or unnecessary.

Source: The Associated Press, Jim Shur