Government Technology - October 2007 - (Page 40)

geo info Do FEMA floodplain maps need better elevation data? And if they do, who will foot the bill? state local federal BY MERRILL DOUGLAS | CONTRIBUTING WRITER Challenge F or people whose business is to worry about flooding, there’s no debate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs to keep its flood maps current. But as Congress discusses the future of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), not everyone agrees on the best way to modernize those maps or pay for the effort. Congress created the NFIP in 1968 to reduce disaster assistance costs after floods by providing insurance on properties that are at high risk of flooding, so fewer owners will need government aid. The program also helps state and local governments manage floodplains so fewer properties are constructed in the way of rising waters. To support those two goals, FEMA works with Risingtothe state and local governTechnology: Light ments across the U.S. to detection and ranging map floodplains. geospatial systems. FEMA’s Floodplain Contact: Larry Insurance Rate Maps Larson, executive director, Association (FIRMs) indicate Special of State Floodplain Flood Hazard Areas Managers, . where, in any given year, the chance that a stream will inundate the land is 1 percent or more. Anyone seeking a federally insured mortgage on a property in an SFHA must have flood insurance, which the NFIP subsidizes. Insurance agents and lenders use FIRMs to determine which properties require the insurance. State and local governments use them in development planning and flood mitigation programs. Unfortunately in a community with ongoing development, the job of mapping the floodplain is never done. “As farm fields and forests are turned into rooftops and parking lots, it destroys trees,” said Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFM) in Madison, Wis., adding that with fewer roots to drink up the water, more water runs into the nearest stream. “The flood level of that stream may go up significantly. As it does, the boundary of the 100-year floodplain expands to embrace more properties.” Homeowners continuously complain that their maps are obsolete, said David Maune, senior project manager for remote sensing at Dewberry, a Fairfax, Va. planning, design and program management firm whose expertise includes geographic information. “I think something like 25 to 30 percent of flood claims are from people outside the special flood hazard areas,” Maune added. This creates a problem because many of these people don’t carry flood insurance since, according to the FIRMs, they don’t need it. Funding Running Out For a long time, FEMA had only $50 million per year to produce and update flood maps, Larson said. In 2003, Congress boosted that budget to $200 million per year, but only for the five-year period ending in 2008. “Unless some additional authorization and appropriation is provided, FEMA will drop back to that $50 million a year,” Larson cautioned, “and once again our maps will quickly become outdated.” A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in March proposed raising that j j Synopsis: New technologies provide better topographic data — but at what cost? Jurisdiction: Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, North Carolina. OCT_07 40 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - October 2007

Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile GT Spectrum Letters How It Works Cerf on the Net Way Back Machine Separation Anxiety Let's Roll Rising to the Challenge Wednesday Afternoon Fever Parking Possibilities Products Signal: Noise

Government Technology - October 2007

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