Some homeowners who are plagued with high flood insurance premiums, may now find relief with lower premiums through private insurers.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department created a new website full of information on flood insurance options available to the state's homeowners and renters. It can be accessed at

www.insurance.pa.gov. Click on "Flood" under Top Pages."My goal is to make sure Pennsylvanians can find good coverage at affordable prices, and this one-stop website will help homeowners and renters be able to do this," Commissioner Teresa Miller said.Flood insurance premiums have skyrocketed in recent years, said Ron Ruman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. As a result of the high premiums, some homeowners have decided to sell only to find that no one wanted to buy a house in a high-risk flood zone. House values dropped by tens of thousands in some areas and people who never or rarely had a flood problem were now underwater in their mortgage.Palmerton resident Roberta Hans said, "I'm officially underwater." Five years ago, her house was appraised for $110,000. She said a neighbor's house recently sold for $45,000. "Every house in that lot is underwater. The people who are buying it are developers. It's not a homeowner community over there anymore."National programRuman explained that flood insurance has been available through the National Flood Insurance Program since the 1960s. For many years, it had relatively low premiums and was subsidized by the government.Due to the devastating effects of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, huge numbers of flood insurance claims were filed and put the National Flood Insurance Program $25 billion in debt. The federal government removed the subsidy, which "resulted in a terrific premium increase," he said. Through public outcry, the same subsidy was re-established, but it is being phased out with 18 percent increases each year.At the same time, Federal Emergency Management Administration set out to redraw the flood zones nationwide."Some of these people, who were never required to have flood insurance, found themselves being required to have it," Ruman said. For some, it pushed them into high risk flood zone."For most Pennsylvanians trying to buy individual flood insurance coverage, NFIP was thought to be the only option," Miller said.The state Insurance Department's new website provides an easy-to-access list of insurers that provide lower premiums in for a variety of insurances.Private insuranceRuman said there are two types of private insurance companies. There are those that are licensed in Pennsylvania and those that are licensed in another state or country. The latter are called surplus lines.Surplus line companies listed on the website have been researched and are safe companies to get insurance through. They are legitimate companies, he said. They abide by Pennsylvania's laws and have enough funds to support payouts to claims, he said. If one of them did go bankrupt, the state has a safeguard similar to the FDIC in the banking industry. It's called a Guaranty Fund."You'll get paid from that fund," Ruman said.The list of surplus line companies includes big names like AIG and Lloyd's of London. These companies will insure more than half of the people in a high-risk flood zone, he said."(Surplus lines) have premiums selling at a greatly reduced rate from what is offered by the NFIP," Ruman said.Remapping flood zonesMichael Megoulas, a homeowner in Hershey in Dauphin County, said at a recent news conference, "In 2012, my property was remapped into a flood zone, and I was told I had to buy flood insurance to keep my mortgage. NFIP insurance would have cost me $2,700 a year, but I was able to find private coverage for only $718 annually."For people who think their flood zone designation will be rejected by a private insurance company, Ruman thinks they should talk to some insurance providers. Sure, the companies are going to look at flood issues in the area, but they will also look at the history of a specific property. An agent may come out to the site to see for himself that despite FEMA's new rezoning, the likelihood of a flood is low, he said.In addition to links to private flood insurance providers, the webpage also has a link to the NFIP, which may be the only option for some high-risk properties. The website lists the type of coverage written by each licensed insurer. Information can also be found by calling the Pennsylvania Insurance department at 877-881-6388.Licensed and surplus lines insurers selling private flood coverage in Pennsylvania but not on the list can be added to the website by emailing ra-in-producer@pa.gov.