[Dialogue] Emailing: FEMA Flood-Risk Maps Failed Residents in Midwest - CommonDreams.org.htm

Sat Jun 21 15:14:10 EDT 2008

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Published on Friday, June 20, 2008 by Associated  <http://www.ap.org> Press

FEMA Flood-Risk Maps Failed Residents in Midwest

by Tammy Webber and Maria Sudekum Fisher

GULFPORT, 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.
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/0620_04.jpg> 0620 04

After all, local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the levee
was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood, and FEMA had agreed. 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 Gulfport 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.”

Around the country, thousands of residents who relied on risk maps from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency may unknowingly face similar dangers.

“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.”

Mike Buckley, a FEMA deputy assistant administrator, said agency officials
encourage everyone to buy federal flood insurance and have never claimed
that levees eliminate the risk of flooding.

But now - amid the disastrous flooding across Iowa, Illinois and Missouri -
some policymakers are demanding that 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.

FEMA relies on outside engineers whose job is to certify whether a levee can
withstand a 100-year flood - that is, a flood so big that there is only a 1
percent chance of it happening in any given year. If FEMA agrees with the
certification, 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.

However, some FEMA floodplain maps are 20 years old and seriously outdated,
based on old evaluations of levees and river conditions.

FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program, has spent
almost $1 billion since 2003 so far to modernize its maps, which Buckley
said are for insurance purposes, not to indicate people are safe.

Moreover, some of this year’s floods exceeded the 100-year benchmark,
including Gulfport’s flood, which was a 500-year deluge, the Army Corps of
Engineers said.

FEMA 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.

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.

Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain
Managers, said FEMA should not wait for Congress. But he said he doubts that
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.

(c) 2008 Associated Press

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20 Comments so far

1.

	annabelle June 20th, 2008 1:30 pm

	FEMA steps up to the plate again, and again, and again. Shouldn’t
Homeland Security also mean securing the homeland from Everything, not just
a few terrorists?

2.

	bandido June 20th, 2008 1:48 pm

	Another success story for Bu$h and disaster capitalism.

3.

	jcrumb <http://www.crumbproducts.com>  June 20th, 2008 2:01 pm

	And where is the ACLU? and the OUTRAGE at peoples homes being broken
into? little officious thug-runt pigs litterally BREAKING into locked
homes..what? that COP is a…STRUCTURAL ENGINEER? doubt it..these are ILLEGAL
SEARCHES..EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY THE CONSTITUTION..and under the auspices
of EMERGENCY..these activities by the “authorities” are growing..becoming
the “norm”.
People..you know what? even homes with people in them were aggressivley
searched..for no reason other than that they could..there is good video
footage of a man..really pissed off..telling the police that they cannot
search his home and that it is illegal..and the little pig..and he actually
is a really classic example of a pig-man..in his gestapo outfit..actually
say’s to him..”I will have you removed from this area and you will NEVER
GET BACK IN..” and that threat..was because a person demanded that his home
NOT BE SEARCHED…how DARE HE HAVE ANY RIGHTS…GEEWHIZ..THE NERVE OF SOME
PEOPLE..ACTUALLY MAKING THE POLICE OBSERVE THE CONSTITUTION…ON HIS OWN
PRIVATE PROPERTY…UNBELIEVABLE!
AND..it get’s worse and worse..this is happening all over Iowa..and during
Katrina..WOW! you probably know the stories by now…but that was the
“proving ground” private contractors armed to the teeth..for what? do you
need to “tactically” search for a dead body? or a stranded senior citizen?
yeah..right!
I realize most of you don’t actually care…but when it’s YOUR house..and
you are being HANDCUFFED FOR NOT ALLOWING AN ILLEGAL SEACH..HEY..WHAT YOU
GONNA SAY DEN’..HUNH? WHAT?
IT’S FUCKING OUT OF CONTROL PEOPLE..WHEN WILL IT SNAP? WHAT LEVEL OF
ECONOMIC NIGHTMARE WILL BEGIN TO TURN THE COLD CIVIL WAR RAGING IN AMERICA…
INTO A HOT ONE?..THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS..V. THE FEDERAL LOYALIST BRAINWASHED
THUG-RUNTS…IT IS COMING…MAYBE IN AUGUST..HOTTEST TIME OF YEAR..GAS AT
$6.50 A GALLON..THE GOVERNMENT DOING EVERYTHING IT CAN TO DESTROY THE
ECONOMY…(WHY? BAILOUT FOR HOUSING CRISIS? OIL AS AN INVESTMENT TO EARN BACK
LOST REVNUE FROM HOUSING CRISIS..MAKE US PAY FOR IT?WHY DO THIS?) ETC..WHEN
IS IT GOING TO SNAP..IT’S GETTING CLOSE..I CAN FEEL IT..PEOPLE ARE A MIX OF
DISTRACTED TO THE POINT OF BEING DANGEROUS..AND…ENRAGED TO THE POINT OF
PSYCHOSIS…RAGE AND DISTRACTION..NOT A GOOD COMBO FOR KEEPING TI COOL…NOPE!
NOT GOOD AT ALL..
LIVE FREE OR DIE…
SEE YOU IN THE TRENCHES…MAYBE..

4.

	whatfools June 20th, 2008 2:34 pm

	FEMA Flood-Risk Maps out the Neo-Yuppy land for the GOP (Grab
Other’s Property). When it rains their Neo-Carpetbaggers pour in…

5.

	canuckchuck June 20th, 2008 2:41 pm

	“George Bush doesn’t care about wet people”

6.

	Fascism_sux June 20th, 2008 3:41 pm

	FEMA- Federal Emergency Manufacturing Administration.

	Out of a host of (now) bungling Government agencies the FEMA is best
at living down to its name. Its time to plow Washington, DC, like a
weed-infested field and replant.

7.

	Curtis June 20th, 2008 5:33 pm

	The people of Iowa need “Katrina” lessons, but maybe they won’t
as most of Iowa is white.

8.

	bligh3 June 20th, 2008 5:36 pm

	OK canuckchuck- that was funny.

9.

	Firefem June 20th, 2008 6:31 pm

	Ha! The People believed the government, yet again! Don’t they know
by now that whatever comes out of our government is the exact opposite of
truth? Think about everything that’s come out of the Bush administration,
and even Clinton’s for that matter (there’s NO difference between most
repubs and dems). Whatever claim they make you can expect the opposite to be
the truth.

	As for illegal searches of our homes, I think I’ll arm myself with
a copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights so they can read them ENTIRELY
before they ask permission to enter my home.

10.

	George C. Brown June 20th, 2008 11:20 pm

	The FEMA of yesteryear disappeared long ago - - another victim of
Disaster Capitalism and the Chicago School of Economics and the planned
privatization of everything. What can the Mid-West expect? About the same as
New Orleans in the wake of Katrina: no government aid, repairs and
recoveries contracted out to private contractors who spend their funding on
their own infrastructure to the neglect of the people and areas who need the
help.

11.

	George C. Brown June 20th, 2008 11:20 pm

	The FEMA of yesteryear disappeared long ago - - another victim of
Disaster Capitalism and the Chicago School of Economics and the planned
privatization of everything. What can the Mid-West expect? About the same as
New Orleans in the wake of Katrina: no government aid, repairs and
recoveries contracted out to private contractors who spend their funding on
their own infrastructure to the neglect of the people and areas who need the
help.

12.

	tailcap June 21st, 2008 2:39 am

	Bush looks Dick-faced.

13.

	kaimu <http://kaimuflowers.com>  June 21st, 2008 3:15 am

	ALOHA !!

	Where’s … GOOD JOB BROWNIE … when you need him?

	I own an orchid nursery here in Hawaii and before that I was an
electrical contractor in San Francisco. When people failed to work or didn’
t know what they were doing I had to fire them!

	Doesn’t anyone ever get FIRED in Washington DC? The US Voters
SUCK!! We always reward failure with more terms in office. TED KENNEDY is a
great example! How did BUSH get re-elected? How is it US Voters put two
Vietnam War draft dodgers into office? A trained monkey could do just as
good a job! Where’s the Mad Money Monkey? HIRE THE MONKEY!!!

	UNREAL-L-L-L !!!!

	Welcome to the USSA!!!

14.

	kaimu <http://kaimuflowers.com>  June 21st, 2008 3:19 am

	ALOHA !!

	George C Brown … Good point about the Chicago School of Economics.
We are soon to be ruled by a graduate from the Chicago School Of Law …
OBAMA !!! Oh yeah … lets hear it for C-H-A-N-G-E !!!! Thats about all we
will be left with is … CHANGE … a few dimes and a couple quarters!

15.

	greatbear215 June 21st, 2008 9:23 am

	Another failure for the bush White House? Gee, that’s hard to
believe, eh?

16.

	willybill June 21st, 2008 12:00 pm

	http://www.votestrike.com/

17.

	TurnoffyourTV June 21st, 2008 12:51 pm

	They told us the leeves would hold…well we thought you were stupid,
now we know you are.

18.

	bobpomeroy June 21st, 2008 1:35 pm

	The flood map re my house is a joke. It doesn’t even show a 15′ x
12′ cross section drainage ditch at the back of my lot which was a WPA
construction. We had a 100 year flood about 20 years ago which filled it to
almost (but not quite) half-way. As far as I’m concerned, the maps are for
the purpose of draining $800 year for flood insurance from my annual
retirement income, so I can subsidize the failures we are now witnessing. I
don’t mind helping the victims of Katrina or the farmers in Iowa, but my
blood boils at the rebuilt and rebuilt multimillion dollar homes overlooking
the Pacific which everyone knows will come down this year or the next. I
wonder if it would take a month for new maps to be constructed from
satellite images.

19.

	Samson <http://www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com>  June 21st, 2008 1:40
pm

	Wow, maybe I’m naive, but anytime I had property that needed a
levee to protect it from flooding, I think I’d realize it was a risk and
have insurance. That kinda sounds like a no-brainer to me. Of course, I’m
an engineer which means I know everything can fail.

	I also used to work as a surveyor, and even 15 years ago the maps
were questionable for exact details. They are drawn a 1″=2000′, so if you
are trying to figure out whether your house is in a flood zone with its
hundred foot lot you are looking at tiny distances on the map. And we hit a
lot of cases where the homeowner who was paying us to do a survey ran into
problems with govt agencies because someone interpreted the map to say they
were on a flood zone where we knew they were sitting on top of a nice hill.

	I’d say look at them for big picture, but then use your own
judgement.

	Of course, if FEMA was really doing its job, and if they were
working to improve these things (instead of just ignoring them), then they’
d have them constantly updated and tied into something like Google earth
where you could see the lines on the map on top of a picture and maybe a
USGS contour map as well.

	Yeah, the above would be a lot of work. But, if you wanted to spend
government money in a way that would create jobs here in the US and help
people, there’s a project for you. And while it would sound expensive at
first glance, compared to the $160+ billion our Democrats just threw away
into Iraq (again), its probably peanuts.

	Would you rather pay for a soldier being a war criminal in Iraq. Or
for people out using GPS gear and computers to map, compute and display more
accurate flood zones? Both provide jobs. But only the latter also creates
something that’s of use to the citizens who pay for it.

20.

	lillulu June 21st, 2008 1:50 pm

	The old infrastructure of the U.S. is crumbling, but hey, we’ve got
hundreds of billions of dollars, which will be trillions, for unnecessary
war for war profiteering for the wealthy fascists running the country.

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