Friday, 20 June 2008
Areas Ranked For Flood Risk By FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now ranks and rates areas around the U.S. with the highest flood risk.
The high-risk list included cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Denver.
In Colorado, FEMA and state engineers are working on five-year project to create a flood map of the whole state, reported the Rocky Mountain News.
“People need to know whether they are in a flood plain. They also need to see the nearest place where they could evacuate and where the nearest high ground is, in case streets are flooded,“ said Nancy Steinberger, a FEMA engineer mapping flood plains in Colorado.
In places FEMA determines a high flood risk in Colorado and the rest of the country, residents may be required to get mandatory flood insurance. And that coverage can be very expensive.
Some areas are found by FEMA to be so high risk, they could be denied coverage altogether.
But many are questioning the accuracy of FEMA’s flood maps, reported USA Today. One lawsuit in Washington D.C. resulted in FEMA withdrawing a flood zone expansion into the downtown area.
Lawyers cited FEMA’s maps as “arbitrary and capricious,” reported the Washington Post.
Still, the risk of flood is high in many places — and it’s important for homeowners to understand most homeowners insurance policies don’t cover flood damage.
“Moving out of the flood plain is one of the best things anybody can do,” said U.S. Army Corps Engineers spokesperson, Ron Fournier.
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