NORTH CHARLESTON — The city now has one of the highest Federal Emergency Management Agency community ratings in the state after completing a five-year verification process.

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System is an incentive program that recognizes a community’s efforts to enhance floodplain management and hazard mitigation. Property owners who live in participating communities are rewarded with lower flood insurance rates . Roughly 50 counties, cities and towns across the state participate in the voluntary program.

FEMA scores each community based on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the highest rating with the greatest insurance discounts.

North Charleston advanced two tiers to a Class 5 rating. Starting Oct. 1, property owners in the city will receive a

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