[StBernard] Flood victims feel misled by feds

[Westley Annis]

Flood victims feel misled by feds 
They say they were told levee would hold; many dropped insurance
The Associated Press
updated 8:18 p.m. CT, Thurs., June. 19, 2008
GULF PORT, Ill. - Juli Parks didn't worry when water began creeping up the
levee that shields this town of about 750 from the Mississippi River - not
even when volunteers began piling on sandbags.

After all, FEMA and local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the
levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood. In fact, some
relieved homeowners dropped their flood insurance, and others applied for
permits to build new houses and businesses.

Then on Tuesday, the worst happened: The levee burst and Gulf Port was
submerged in 10 feet of water. Only 28 property owners were insured against
the damage.

"They all told us, 'The levees are good. You can go ahead and build,'" said
Parks, who did not buy flood coverage because her bank no longer required
it. "We had so much confidence in those levees."

Damage is catastrophic
Around the country, thousands of residents who relied on the assurances of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency may unknowingly face similar risks.

"People put all their hopes in those levees, and when they do fail, the
damage is catastrophic," said Paul Osman, the National Flood Insurance
Program coordinator for Illinois. "New Orleans is the epitome; a lot of
those people didn't even realize they were in a floodplain until the water
was up to their roofs."

Now - amid the disastrous flooding across Iowa, Illinois and Missouri - some
policymakers are demanding the government come up with more accurate,
up-to-date flood-risk assessments, inform the public better of the dangers,
and require nearly all homeowners to buy coverage if they live near dams or
levees.

Currently, if FEMA agrees that a levee can withstand a 100-year flood - that
is, a flood so big that it has only a 1 percent chance of happening in any
given year - then the homes and businesses protected by the levee are not
considered to be in a floodplain. That means homeowners living there do not
have to buy federal flood insurance.

Outdated floodplain maps
However, some FEMA floodplain maps are 20 years old and seriously outdated,
based on old evaluations of levees and river conditions. Moreover, some of
this year's floods exceeded the 100-year benchmark, including Gulf Port's,
which was a 500-year deluge, the Army Corps of Engineers said.


For its part, FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program,
has spent almost $1 billion since 2003 to modernize its maps. Also, Mike
Buckley, a deputy assistant administrator, said FEMA officials encourage
everyone to buy federal flood insurance and have never claimed that levees
eliminate the risk of flooding altogether.

The agency said it is up to Congress to decide whether everyone whose home
could be swamped by a breach of a levee or dam should be required to buy
flood insurance.


Bill would require flood insurance
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has sponsored a bill passed by the Senate
that would require just that. It would also require FEMA to assess the risks
more accurately.

Homeowners and businesses behind levees or downstream of dams "are often
unaware of the risks to their properties" and so don't buy flood insurance,
Dodd said.

"When these manmade structures fail, the effects can be dangerous and
devastating," he said in a statement. "With no insurance coverage, the
process of rebuilding their homes and their lives becomes tremendously
difficult for families and businesses."

Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain
Managers, said FEMA should not wait for Congress. But he said he doubts the
agency will act on its own, because the move would be too politically
unpopular.

Many residents and communities strongly resist attempts to force them to buy
coverage because of the cost and the belief that it will hurt economic
development, said Doug Bellomo, director of FEMA's risk analysis division.

"From our perspective, while flood insurance isn't free, it is a way of
hedging your investment in property against a risk we have pretty good
understanding of," Bellomo said. "There's not a question of if you should
buy fire insurance, but there is a lot of aversion to flood insurance."

Communities protected by the 52-mile Sny levee, along the Mississippi River
near Quincy, Ill., worked hard to persuade FEMA in 2004 to accredit the
levee, rebuilt after failing in 1993, as providing protection against a
100-year flood. FEMA relented, even though the decision was based on 1979
data and an unpublished Army Corps of Engineering study indicated that
elevations in the river had risen substantially. Now, the Sny is in danger
of failing and many people no longer have flood insurance.


Weighing the cost of flood insurance
Parks said she was told that flood insurance on her Gulf Port home would
cost more than $1,000 a year. But Osman said that in Illinois, policies
average $400 a year for those in floodplains and $120 to $317 for people
like Parks who are not in a designated floodplain.

At least 22 levees in the three flood-stricken states already have been
topped by floodwaters this week, the Corps said. Dozens more could overflow.

In Hull - a town of about 500 that was inundated in the 1993 flood but is
now deemed protected by the Sny - only 44 homeowners still have flood
insurance, Osman said.

Jerry Rodhouse, who lives on a 1,200-acre farm near Pleasant Hill, Ill.,
said if the nearby levee breaks, the land in that part of the Sny drainage
system will be under as much as 9 feet of water. But he said he is confident
the levee will hold.

"We have the finest levees on the Mississippi River north of St. Louis," he
said. "We've been working since 1872 to protect our land."

It is unclear what, if anything, the uninsured Parks would get in government
disaster relief. "We're hoping to rebuild, but it depends what FEMA says and
how much we get," said Parks, who is staying with her husband in a horse
trailer.

Gulf Port building and zoning inspector John Carrier said the flood is a
blow to the town that was told it was out of harm's way.

"Everybody was happy; that meant the village could build and thrive," he
said. "People can decide if they want to take that risk or not and rebuild.
But I don't know what happens now."


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25270087/


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