HOUSTON -- New Harris County flood plain maps were released Monday and they could make a difference in residents' flood insurance, KPRC Local 2 reported.

The redrawn maps affect approximately 10,000 homes and businesses. Some residents who were not in the flood plain are in it now. Those residents have six months to buy flood insurance before the rates go up.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent the past three years redrawing the county's flood maps. They show the areas most likely to flood during a major storm.

The new map project began after Tropical Storm Allison devastated the city in June 2001, flooding neighborhoods that had never flooded before.

In some areas, the new maps show the 100-year flood plain bigger than before. For example, along Brays Bayou, the new map shows the flood plain has gotten much wider so that thousands of homeowners in Bellaire, West University Place, and southwest Houston are in the flood zone even though they weren't there before.

Virginia Trevino's house was not in the flood plain when she bought it 18 years ago. It is now.

"We've never been flooded. The water has just come to the top step but it's never flooded," Trevino said.

Homeowners in the flood plain who have not bought flood insurance can save money if they purchase it now. They can lock in insurance at the old rate if they buy it before June 18, 2007, when the new maps become official.

"A lot of mortgage and lending companies require you to have flood insurance if you are in a 100-year flood plain," said Heather Saucier with Harris County Flood Control District. "We're estimating that a policy owner could save anywhere from $50 to $1,000 a year by grandfathering in."

Even if a homeowner's property is not in the flood plain, experts said it's a good idea to have flood insurance wherever you live because of Houston's notorious flooding.

More Information:

Flood Insurance Rate Maps, 713-722-7227
National Flood Insurance Program, 888-379-9531
Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project