Meeting tonight addresses changes in flood plain maps
NORWICH – Any homes built in a flood plain from now on would have to meet regulations drawn up by the federal government, officials said.
“We’re not out to prevent development,” said Paul Weberg, a senior engineer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, speaking of construction in a floodplain. “We want to make sure development is done in the proper way to prevent further losses.”
FEMA and officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation are holding an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight in the Summit Room of The Eaton Center on 19 Eaton Ave. in Norwich.
“People can come in and look at a specific situation,” said DEC representative Bill Nechamen.
The open house presentations will be informal, and the public is encouraged to come at their convenience to discuss how proposed changes in the local flood maps could affect their insurance costs and construction codes.
The preliminary flood maps, drawn up over the last two years in response to severe flooding, are still subject to appeal.
“We’ll put a notice in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks” before the appeals period begins, said Weberg.
“People may find there is some erroneous or more recent or better information,” he said, adding: “We’ll work with the county and the community to make sure the maps are the best and latest available.”
The mapping was paid for by federal assistance allocated after Chenango County was declared a federal disaster area in 2006, said FEMA official Scott Duell. Duell said no exact figure on how much re-mapping Chenango County cost.
Teams of hydraulic engineers and map specialists developed the new flood maps using a technology known as LiDAR, which uses lasers, shot from an airplane, to develop a more specific topography and elevation readings.
“These maps are our best hope in 2009,” said Weberg.
City of Norwich Emergency Managment Director A. Wesley Jones concurred.
“Before you had to basically guess whether someone was in a flood plain or not,” he said. “With the mapping capabilities now, we can lay down an air photo and you can find out whether a specific house is or isn’t in a flood plain, where as it was rather arbitrary before.”
Homeowners now included in the preliminary floodplain will likely have to get flood insurance for the first time.
For a house on Canasawacta Street, premiums range from anywhere between $509 and $2766 for coverage that protects a structure and its contents. A house outside the flood plain can get the same coverage for between $119 and $1385.
The price depends on the level of coverage, the risk associated with the location, and type of house.
As for statistics related to how many structure in the county were added or removed from the flood plain: “We were not able to develop those figures,” Nechamen said. “The FEMA replica maps are not well designed to produce a number (like that).”
Several streets in the City of Norwich have been removed. In the villages of Oxford, good portions of Greene, Albany, Mechanic, Depot, Merchant and N. Canal streets have been added.
In the village of Sherburne, significant stretches West State Street, Gould Drive, Canal and Knapp streets have also been included as at risk areas, according to the preliminary boundaries released earlier this month.
A mortgaged home within a flood plain is required to carry flood insurance.
According to Jones, there are 2,000 structures out of approximately 25,000 in the county in the flood plain.
Since 2004, half the counties in the state have been re-mapped or are in the process, said Nechamen.
Chenango County, not originally included in the study, was added to the list after the flooding in 2006.
Forty percent of structures in the U.S. damaged by floods are not in a FEMA dedicated zone.
“We’re not out to prevent development,” said Paul Weberg, a senior engineer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, speaking of construction in a floodplain. “We want to make sure development is done in the proper way to prevent further losses.”
FEMA and officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation are holding an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight in the Summit Room of The Eaton Center on 19 Eaton Ave. in Norwich.
“People can come in and look at a specific situation,” said DEC representative Bill Nechamen.
The open house presentations will be informal, and the public is encouraged to come at their convenience to discuss how proposed changes in the local flood maps could affect their insurance costs and construction codes.
The preliminary flood maps, drawn up over the last two years in response to severe flooding, are still subject to appeal.
“We’ll put a notice in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks” before the appeals period begins, said Weberg.
“People may find there is some erroneous or more recent or better information,” he said, adding: “We’ll work with the county and the community to make sure the maps are the best and latest available.”
The mapping was paid for by federal assistance allocated after Chenango County was declared a federal disaster area in 2006, said FEMA official Scott Duell. Duell said no exact figure on how much re-mapping Chenango County cost.
Teams of hydraulic engineers and map specialists developed the new flood maps using a technology known as LiDAR, which uses lasers, shot from an airplane, to develop a more specific topography and elevation readings.
“These maps are our best hope in 2009,” said Weberg.
City of Norwich Emergency Managment Director A. Wesley Jones concurred.
“Before you had to basically guess whether someone was in a flood plain or not,” he said. “With the mapping capabilities now, we can lay down an air photo and you can find out whether a specific house is or isn’t in a flood plain, where as it was rather arbitrary before.”
Homeowners now included in the preliminary floodplain will likely have to get flood insurance for the first time.
For a house on Canasawacta Street, premiums range from anywhere between $509 and $2766 for coverage that protects a structure and its contents. A house outside the flood plain can get the same coverage for between $119 and $1385.
The price depends on the level of coverage, the risk associated with the location, and type of house.
As for statistics related to how many structure in the county were added or removed from the flood plain: “We were not able to develop those figures,” Nechamen said. “The FEMA replica maps are not well designed to produce a number (like that).”
Several streets in the City of Norwich have been removed. In the villages of Oxford, good portions of Greene, Albany, Mechanic, Depot, Merchant and N. Canal streets have been added.
In the village of Sherburne, significant stretches West State Street, Gould Drive, Canal and Knapp streets have also been included as at risk areas, according to the preliminary boundaries released earlier this month.
A mortgaged home within a flood plain is required to carry flood insurance.
According to Jones, there are 2,000 structures out of approximately 25,000 in the county in the flood plain.
Since 2004, half the counties in the state have been re-mapped or are in the process, said Nechamen.
Chenango County, not originally included in the study, was added to the list after the flooding in 2006.
Forty percent of structures in the U.S. damaged by floods are not in a FEMA dedicated zone.
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