Only 42 percent of FEMA’s maps “adequately identified the level of flood risk”, according to fiscal year 2017 data included in the report. A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s Office found that FEMA’s flood map program is plagued by mismanagement and poor mapping standards. “FEMA encourages everyone to consider buying flood insurance and making mitigation-related changes to reduce their risk and protect their properties.”īut FEMA knows there’s a problem. “The recent storms were strong evidence of the fact that anywhere it can rain, it can flood,” a FEMA spokesperson said. Areas are Census boundaries and Special Land Use Authority Areas from 2010 provided by FEMA.įEMA says these maps only paint part of the risk picture. In some instances, areas that do participate are not shown due to lack of reliable data. Note: Areas without data are communities that do not participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. Age of effective date for FEMA flood maps Almost two-thirds of those maps have an “effective date”-the date it was last officially updated-more than five years old some maps have been in place for more than 40 years. “Until they do that, these maps will always be obsolete the day they come out,” said Larry Larson, senior policy adviser and director emeritus for the Association of State Floodplain Managers, a professional organization focused on reducing losses from flood damage.įEMA manages flood maps for about 22,000 communities across the U.S. And it can lead to billions of dollars in losses for uninsured homeowners who didn’t think their house could flood.Įven FEMA’s newer maps are likely to fall short as an accurate indicator of flood risk because they don’t account for rapid rain accumulation, how buildings are constructed, climate change or expected population growth, among other things. When those maps are wrong it leaves taxpayers on the hook if residents, banks or the National Flood Insurance Program need to be bailed out. But that policy hasn’t stopped flood maps created as far back as the 1970s from influencing where people build or if they have flood insurance, and at what rates. FEMA is supposed to review their maps every five years to make sure they still properly indicate flood risk. That made it harder for residents to know if their homes were at risk of flooding-which might explain why fewer than one in four homes had flood insurance in a town that saw severe flooding during the storm. The town of 7,300, just across the bay from Galveston, was also the victim of a bad map: The local flood maps managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency hadn’t been updated since 1983. When Hurricane Harvey ripped through Hitchcock, Texas, in August, it wasn’t just pummeled by nature.
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