The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently updated its flood maps across Massachusetts’ Charles, Nashua, and Merrimack watersheds. These updates have resulted in increased flood risk designations for approximately 100 households in Peabody and additional parcels in towns such as Brookline and Wellesley. Some of these areas have experienced significant boundary changes.
These map updates have raised concerns among residents about new flood zone classifications and the potential need for flood insurance. Many property owners said they weren’t even aware of the updates.
“They all got a notice from their mortgage company that said, ‘Oh, by the way, you owe this premium,’” Curt Bellavance, Peabody’s director of planning and community development, told the CommonWealth Beacon. “People were like, ‘What? I’m not in the floodplain. Is this new?’”…