Events

Scouting for Food 2012 - Saturday, February 4th

Cub Scout Pack 389 needs your help - and so do thousands of hungry people in our community!

Our Scouts are participating in the annual Scouting for Food drive this winter. The 2012 food drive will take place on two consecutive Saturdays. On Saturday, January 28th, Scouts will place door hangers throughout the Houston Metro area and the surrounding counties of southeast Texas. The following Saturday, February 4th, Scouts will return to pick up the donated food items. Food donated in a particular area will be distributed through relief pantries in that area. This year the Scouts hope to match or better the success of last year's food drive. This year the food pantries are looking for protein food such as canned tuna, peanut butter, or canned ravioli.

Your help is desperately needed. Please be sure to look for your Scouting for Food door hanger on January 28th and make plans place your donated food items at your front door the next Saturday. Scouts will collect the donations from your doorstep on February 4th. Visit www.houstonfoodbank.org to learn more about hunger in our area.

Check our website for additional info: http://sites.google.com/site/pack389tx/Home. Contact us at pack389@gmail.com if you have questions or would like donate, but do not receive a door hanger.

Deadline EXTENDED for the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Brick Pathway

Due to necessary underground power line installation at the new community center construction site, the pathway construction has been put on hold until just after the first of the year. However, this is to your advantage if you've not yet ordered your brick! We will continue to accept orders at least through the month of January so take this extra opportunity to get that order in. Forms can be printed from the city's website or simply drop by city hall to pick one up. Please complete the form and submit with your $50.00 payment for each brick ordered.

Is Your Flood Insurance Premium Increasing Dramatically?

Submitted by El Lago resident Don Peterson

If you live in certain areas within the City of El Lago (mostly south of Willow Vista Dr.) and it is time to renew your flood insurance, beware! In 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency updated their flood zone maps and much of the older section of El Lago was re-zoned in a higher risk flood zone. If your property was previously in Zone X and is now listed as Zone AE, your annual flood insurance premium may dramatically increase. If your zone has changed and you have not already received notification you will when the time approaches for you to renew your flood insurance.

This recently happened to me, but my flood insurance company made a suggestion that might result in a substantial reduction in my premium. Their suggestion was to have a licensed surveyor survey my property and prepare a "Certificate of Elevation." This Certificate of Elevation verifies your actual elevation and the insurance company can use it in determining your flood zone rather than using the FEMA Flood Zone map. Upon submitting a copy of the Certificate of Elevation to my insurance company, my premium was reduced from more than $1,200 per year to less than $450 per year. My cost for the survey was only a couple hundred dollars, but my premium reduction will return more than three times that much savings in one year.

Depending on the elevation of your house, this may or may not work for you. However, I have been told that the elevation of many houses in the above mentioned area are high enough to result in a considerable decrease in annual flood insurance premiums.

The City of El Lago is requesting that if you have or do get an elevation survey completed, submit a copy to City Secretary Ann Vernon at City Hall, 98 Lakeshore Drive. She will be collecting the information and forwarding it on to Representative Pete Olson's office who has shown an interest in the FEMA map elevation discrepancies.

For more information on FEMA's flood zone designations and to obtain a flood map, go to the FEMA Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov.