OH PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!!
In 2002, my (now ex-) husband and I found a lovely little property on 2 acres in an otherwise great location. it was a steal! It was in a 100-year flood plain and we did a bunch of research, including meeting with the county's emergency management people and checking into flood insurance. The Emerg Management Director talked about the new flood gates they had just installed upstream and their policy of opening the gates before a big rain event in order to make more room in the reservoir to contain the anticipated rainfall. We thought, "Great! The County has a plan." Flood insurance was on the expensive side but not exhorbitant (that is no longer true thanks to a 2012 reform
http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-reform-act-2012).
We bought the property in Feb. 2002, largely because he LOVED it and our marriage was rocky so I was okay with anything that made him happy. We split up in January of 2003. I bought him out of the house so I could maintain our childrens' home and their lives would not be disrupted any more than necessary.
The first flood happened on Memorial Day of 2003 when unforecasted torrential rains overnight pushed the creek 200 feet up the backyard and into my house. Firemen awoke me at 7 AM with the warning "Ma'am, your house is about to flood." You find out who your friends are when you call them at the crack of dawn, in a panic, and ask them to help you move your furniture to high ground. We were out of the house for six weeks and flood insurance denied much of my claim. ServPro sued me for the balance (almost $13k), a suit which I settled several years later.
In early July, following backbreaking mostly-DIY cleanup which I did after my full time job and when I wasn't working my second job, we moved back in (the house was damaged not "totalled" so I didn't have much choice as I still had a mortgage). I will never forget the smell, the primordial ooze stuck to EVERYTHING or finding a black snake in my living room under some debris. I broke down in tears more than once.
Six weeks later, just before Labor Day of 2003, the forecasters started tracking a hurricane called Isabel. I started packing.
On Sept. 18, I got up early and finished the last chores. I turned off the gas and the electric and took the kids to a friend's house. I hoped and prayed that the whole fucking house would wash away. That night and into the morning, Isabel passed directly overhead leaving my house under six feet of water for several days. That was the start of a nearly two year ordeal that took me to the brink of bankruptcy, into court to fend off a custody challenge (now that I didn't have the house, apparently I shouldn't have the kids either), into battle with insurance companies, and ultimately turned me into a fierce advocate with our local, state, and federal officials who were less than helpful. I still had a mortgage to pay, so my kids and I relied on FEMA rental assistance for 18 months. I finally convinced the county to apply for a FEMA grant that exists in order to buy out chronic hazard properties (it's cheaper than repeat claims).
It was Christmas of 2004 before my kids and I had permanent housing again. It was July of 2005 before the FEMA buy-out of my property (and four others) came through. It was, without doubt, the worst two years of my life to that point and God willing I've paid my dues for the remainder of my time on this great blue orb.
There is no greater destroyer of wealth than a natural disaster. Just typing this post has caused my heart to race and my blood pressure to skyrocket by dredging up the memories and the anxiety of that time. I am sitting at my desk fighting back tears.
Somehow, with help and hard work, we survived. In fact it made me stronger and it is a big part of why I went to law school in 2008 -- fighting and solving the problem for not just my family but for 5 families was an amazing feeling. But to say it was awful and terrifying and stressful is the grossest of understatement.
DO NOT BUY THIS PROPERTY.