HOUSTON, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FloodSmart, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets: FDSI) ("FloodSmart"), a pioneer in the field of flood remediation, is pleased to announce additional information concerning the Company.
FloodSmart Inc. is a Texas Corporation, with principal offices in Houston, Texas, which engages in flood remediation by elevating structures to a point above the flood plain. The FloodSmart, management and scientific, team is headed by Ken J Kelso, the Company's founder, with over thirty years of experience in developing patented inventions.
Kelso saw the emotional toll caused by tropical storm Allison, in 2001, which uprooted thousands of families, most temporarily but many permanently. In some cases, NFIP flood insurance helped to facilitate the rebuilding process, but it's nearly impossible to replace family heirlooms, not to mention the long and tedious process of rebuilding.
Kelso Invented and Patented a system that uses dynamic concrete hydraulic cylinders to elevate structures above the flood plain. FloodSmart has been in R&D mode for over 4 years. The result is a cost-effective elevation process to avoid the adverse consequences of condemnation, where the property owner loses financially and emotionally, mortgage companies lose revenue streams, and taxing authorities lose tax base.
It's easy to understand the problems related to rebuilding a flooded home. For many the question is why not move the home to higher ground? In essence this is what the process does, but putting that aside it's difficult to sell a repetitive loss structure, and usually done at a substantial loss so the purchase of another home is often very difficult. What about condemning the structure? It is not uncommon for flooded properties to be condemned and/or bought out by FEMA or other regulating agencies, but this often results in a more expensive problem. The end result is checker boarding, the process of condemning patches of property forever. In addition to the upfront costs of buying a condemned structure there are the long term costs of losing part of the local community's tax base and the upkeep costs.
The current approach to dealing with flooded structures is to restore the structure to its previous condition or to voluntarily condemn the structure and land from further use as a building site. Demolition after buyout by FEMA does not reimburse the property owner the full value of the home nor the cost of relocation, excludes the land area from future building, and creates an inventory of government owned land that is considered unusable.
The traditional structural elevation method has been commonly called the "jack and shimmy" technique and for a broad range of reasons impractical and/or unrealistic, especially considering the cost and inconvenience. By the way, the higher the structure needs to be "jacked and shimmied" the costs go up considerably, whereas the FloodSmart Hydraulic Lift Systems can raise a home 10 inches or 10 feet with a reasonable difference in costs, as well as a greatly reduced inconvenience to the occupants.
The average annual pay out for flood insurance claims is $ 867.5 million. The experience is an average of about 37,000 claims each year. These numbers are based on historical statistics over the past five years, which indicate that the number of losses in proportion to the number of covered structures is about 25%. From 1978-2002 there were a total of 867,349 paid losses, accounting for over $11.6 Billion in total payments. The average policy cost is $400.
(Source: http://www.fema.gov/)
Federal funding to assist homeowners in flood plains includes primary flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). A rider to cover the increased cost of compliance (ICC) to bring homes into local code requirements is included with each such policy. A relatively new program is Pre-Disaster Mitigation funding (PDM). It targets homes with high instances of repeat flooding and repeat NFIP claims. Processes and procedures that are overwhelming and discouraging to many homeowners are often involved in these programs. FloodSmart procedures address this concern and assist homeowners and agencies in streamlining the process.
For further information, please go to http://www.floodsmart.net/.
About FloodSmart Inc.
FloodSmart, based in Houston, is dedicated to helping people and communities that are positioned in the nation's flood plain. FloodSmart Hydraulic Lift Systems is a new patented proprietary technology, which is designed to elevate structures above the defined flood plain certification. It calls for the installation of "dynamically controlled hydraulic concrete pistons and cylinders" at strategic engineered points to raise the home to a predetermined "safety zone," at rates which typically meet the cost-benefit analysis ratios set by FEMA, which has earmarked over $200 million in its pre-disaster mitigation competitive grant program. The cost-share is usually 75 percent federal and 25 percent matched locally. For more information, please contact us or visit http://www.floodsmart.net/ .
As of the end of 2002, there was $652.7 billion of flood insurance coverage under the federally sponsored National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) representing more than 4.5 million structures. Because all are within the flood plain, all are candidates for the FloodSmart structure elevation process. Statistics indicate that about 25 percent of the insured base has experienced flood-related claims. For more information, visit http://www.fema.gov/ .
Safe Harbor:
This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance development and results of the company's business include but are not limited to fluctuations in financial results, availability and customer acceptance of our products and services, the impact of competitive products, services and pricing, general market trends and conditions, and other risks detailed in the company's SEC reports.
Contact:
Wallstreet PR, Houston
Brian Heckathorne
(866) 288-0033
