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Highlands Today

New Flood Maps Being Developed

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: December 5, 2008

SEBRING - Like politicians running for office, homeowners in Highlands County should be on the look out for a possible "October surprise" next year.

That's when the proposed new flood risk maps being developed for Highlands County by the Southwest Florida Water Management District will be released.

With a $550,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, SWFWMD is making the first update of the county's flood maps since 1983.

According to FEMA regulations, a property mapped in a high-risk flood area has to have flood insurance if the owner has a mortgage through a federally regulated or insured lender.

It is possible that homes with no known flood risks could be put into flood-risk zones, and that areas in low- or medium-risk zones could be switched into high-risk zones, according to Scott Letasi, SWFWMD's project director for Highlands County.

At the same time, he said, homes in high-risk zones could be downgraded or dropped out of flood risk areas.

"We are seeing an increase (of flood zones) in Hernando County," Letasi said. "There are some areas that are dropping out (of flood zones), but overall we're seeing an increase in the amount of land identified as a flood plane. It varies from watershed to watershed."

Referring to flood map updates in other counties, Mark Hammond, director of resource projects for SWFWMD, said, "In many of the areas we are seeing, there is an expansion of the flood zones."

What's important to know, Letasi said, is that if the new flood risk maps place a home into a high-risk area, homeowners can buy lower-priced flood insurance if they have a policy in place before the new flood insurance rate maps are adopted.

Adoption of the new flood maps won't happen until 2011 at the earliest, after public comment and lengthy reviews not only by SWFWMD, the county and city governments, but also by FEMA.

While any changes are several years off, C.B. Shirey, chairman of the Highlands County Local Mitigation Strategy Working Group, said homeowners should be aware that the new flood maps are being developed.

"There's an education process that needs to take place, so people are not blind sided," he said.

Changes in the flood map that will require flood insurance for some homeowners, he said, "may be the outcome of the process of adopting the digital flood insurance rate maps."

Hammond said the engineering model for mapping the flood zones will be independently reviewed in June as one step to insure the greatest accuracy in assessing flood zones.

"What we think is important is that if these new maps result in people having to get flood insurance, we need to make sure the flood elevations we have are as accurate as possible," he said.

Once the review is complete, he said, "we then will hold a public meting, and we anticipate that probably in October of 2009. We would individually notice a letter to every affected property owner, so that they can come in and take a look at the science and let us know if they have more information."

Following the release of the preliminary report on the flood update, property owners who believe their flood risk designation is flawed will have 90 days to file an appeal.

New flood maps can show changes in flood zones for three reasons, Hammond explained.

First, he said, some of the existing flood maps were based primarily on areas that had flooded in the past. But, he said, detailed studies were not done outside of those areas, as they will be in this flood zone study.

Second, he said, "we have much better topographic information now, and that can help evaluate whether you are in a flood plain or not."

The third factor is that within the past 25 years, development, along with erosion and land-use changes, could have changed the landscape as far as flooding, he said.

Hammond said SWFWMD is taking a closer look at three of the 14 watersheds within its territory in Highlands County: Carter Creek, Avon Park and Sebring. The 11 other watersheds will be updated, using new topographic information, but those three watersheds will be studied more closely, he said.

"We worked with the county to identify where are their priority areas in terms of their needs, and essentially they said those are the priority areas most needed, based on development and future development," Hammond said.

Reporter Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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