My house is on a hillside, and the last time our "hill" was covered by a flood, there was a big wooden boat resting on top of it. I went to the county offices and looked at FEMA's own maps. My property was clearly NOT in the zone they said it was, but that wasn't sufficient proof. I had to buy the insurance, up front, and THEN proceed to fight their flood zone designation.
After a cash outlay of about $500.00, which included a survey of my property, FEMA issued a letter of map amendment saying, no, my property wasn't in the flood zone after all.
We won the battle, but $500 bucks is quite a bit of money to throw away on fighting an arbitrary (and incorrect)designation by the feds. Of course, none of it is refundable.
They're well aware of this dynamic and the process is intentionally difficult and costly. I find it particularly enraging that the same oranization (FEMA) that is responsible for raising the money is the one that determines who pays.
The way this and other rogue agencies operate nothing less than anti-American. The un-elected career bureaucrats that are making these sweeping arbitrary "declarations" are given monarchal powers, to which they commence to abusing ASAP. The FWS came here not too long ago and "declared" boat docks dangerous to Mantees and quit issuing dock permits (yes Fish and Wildlife is the federal agency charged with handling dock permits). Now they're looking at mandating slow speed zones that will turn a 20 minute journey to the gulf a 3 hour ordeal, further destroying our marine and tourist business.
I'm not kidding when I tell you my area is literally under assualt. These are just a few examples.
That being said I'm glad that you were able to prevail. God bless.