Flood Insurance Question(Raymond?)

[Lake Chuck Duck]

The wife and I are really looking hard at a house we are thinking of getting. The location of the house is of course in a flood zone, however the house has never been flooded before. Current flood insurance on the house is around $416 which is a good price.

Here is the problem. FEMA has released a statement saying be ready for the "possibility" of rates for flood insurance going up in certain types of flood zones due to a government regulation. Our agent ran some numbers and said worse case scenario we could be looking at an increase to $4,500!!! But generally a 3 time increase can be expected. There is no telling when they will do it or by how much. Just whatever FEMA feels like doing.

This flood insurance thing is really making us reconsider buying this house, even though we know it will probably never actually flood. Anybody have some insight or knowledge about these new FEMA rate increases??