[StBernard] FEMA quietly posts flood maps

[Westley Annis]

Please see my comments/questions below the article.
 
 
More steps remain in setting elevation rules Saturday, June 24, 2006 By
Meghan Gordon
 
Two months after issuing a written guidance on the south shore's future
elevation standards, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has released
maps showing homeowners how high they would have to rebuild if governments
adopt the rules. 
Without fanfare, FEMA posted the satellite-generated maps for Jefferson,
Orleans, upper Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes online June 14. Diana
Herrera, a FEMA natural hazards program specialist, said the maps were
hand-delivered to the four parishes before being posted online. FEMA planned
no public notice of the new resource on its Web site. 
To view the maps, check out www.nola.com or
www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/katrina_la_maps.shtm
 
The maps serve as the much-awaited visual companions to the parish
advisories the agency released in April. 
 
Nevertheless, at least one permit director predicted the new resource would
add to residents' confusion over the recommendations, which have yet to be
adopted by local governments. 
 
"They're useful for land surveyors and city planners and code enforcement
agencies, but the average person isn't going to know what to make of it,"
said Michael Centineo, New Orleans' safety and permits director. "It's hard
to explain to them that unless they get a survey, there's no way to know how
high they need to build." 
 
Approvals delayed 
 
On Monday, a committee of the New Orleans City Council deferred approval of
the advisories, arguing that aspects of the proposed elevations were
illogical and might hinder redevelopment. The Jefferson Parish Council has
delayed approval of the guidelines until July to respond to concerns from
business and civic groups. 
For areas protected by levees, the maps recommend that new construction and
substantially damaged homes and businesses be elevated to the higher of two
options: the current base-flood elevation -- the height estimated to protect
against a 100-year flood -- or at least 3 feet above the site's highest
existing grade. 
 
Outside the levee system, the advisories call for adding 1 foot to the
existing base-flood elevations. The maps afford homeowners the opportunity
to find their own neighborhood to determine that new height, if they don't
know their current base-flood elevation. 
 
In an extreme example, the maps recommend that residents living on
hurricane-prone Grand Isle in lower Jefferson Parish elevate new structures
to 11 to 14 feet. 
 
Given the quiet release of the maps, some parish officials didn't know they
existed. 
Joseph DiFatta, a St. Bernard Parish Council member, said he hadn't heard a
thing about them. 
 
The St. Bernard Parish Council will seek citizen feedback on the advisories
at three public forums. DiFatta said he's not convinced the recommendations
were based on sound reasoning -- for instance, by telling homeowners whose
house were covered in 10 feet of floodwater to raise their new ones by 3
feet. 
 
"What they're doing is penny-shooting from the hip," DiFatta said. 
 
Insurance rate map 
 
Herrera said FEMA's next step will be to release a preliminary "Flood
Insurance Rate Map" in early 2007, which she said would appear very similar
to the advisory maps. 
A 90-day appeal period will follow the release of the preliminary insurance
rate map. After FEMA compares the feedback with the data it used to generate
the preliminary maps, it will issue a final version. Parishes and cities
would then have six months to adopt the new rules in order for their
residents to continue participating in the National Flood Insurance Program.

 
Herrera said Harahan is the only government in metro New Orleans so far to
adopt the advisory elevations, but Slidell is scheduled to vote on them next
week. 
Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said he has no opposition to raising the current
9-foot elevation to 10 feet. 
 
"Based on what we've seen in Katrina and some of the other storms, it's
probably pretty close to what we need," he said. "We've been through a
couple of '100-year-floods' since 1995." 
 
The maps can be found by parish at
www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/recoverydata/katrina/katrina_la_maps.shtm. 
 
The maps are also posted at www.nola.com 
 
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Now if I understand correctly (Wes and Craig feel free to correct me please)
this means that folks who have already repaired or are repairing their
existing slab-based houses will not be eligible for LRA funds since the LRA
funds are tied to whatever-the-hell FEMA dreamed up in their minds at some
point.  Further, if permits were already issued before the Parish adopts
these guidelines folks will still be grand-fathered in for flood insurance?
My other question is does anyone know how this will affect SBA repair loans?
 
JLY