Flooding along the Blackwater River is nothing new to folks along its banks, but the way it's measured is about to be changed.
Stan Rich, the owner of Southampton Antiques in Franklin, knows how bad the flooding got during Hurricane Floyd and how important it is to know flood stage levels where you live.
“As long as you know the stages of what it might flood in, that`s going to give you a little bit of extra time to maybe move everything or move as much as you can,” says Rich.
Now no changes are coming to the flood gauge in the city of Franklin.
But the gauge technology used to gather river level readings in Dendron and in Franklin at Burdette since the 1940s will be changed on November 28th.
The National Weather Service says in order to use the river level data more efficiently, all the gauge technology along the river needs to be the same.
However, flood stages will change, too.
In Franklin at Burdette, flood stage will be reduced from 12 feet to 10.84 feet.
At Dendron, the new flood stage will jump from 7 feet to 36.3 feet.
“As these new flood stage gauge numbers go up or down along the Blackwater River, your insurance costs could change, too for better or for worse," says Rich.
NewsChannel 3 spoke with a local insurance agent off camera today who says the higher your house sits above flood stage, the better off you are.
But if the lowest floor of your home sits below flood stage, that's when you have to worry about higher premiums.
This is something to keep in mind in case these gauge changes affect you and your home very soon.
