fbpx
  • Latest
  • Trending
Using Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones

Using Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones

3 years ago
Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

17 hours ago
Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

1 week ago
A Bridge Too Far

A Bridge Too Far

1 week ago
Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

1 week ago
New Jersey Organizations Demand Strong Response To Insurrectionists

New Jersey Organizations Demand
Strong Response To Insurrectionists

1 week ago
We Need Amy Kennedy Now

An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

1 week ago
“This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

“This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

2 weeks ago
Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

2 weeks ago
Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

Donald Trump Must Be Held
To Account For His Crimes

2 weeks ago
All Our Sons

All Our Sons

2 weeks ago
It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden To Simply Be Human

It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden
To Simply Be Human

1 month ago
We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

1 month ago
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Login
  • Register
The Standard
  • Home
    • All
    • Business
    • Culture
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
    • Immigration
    • Justice
    • Letters
    • Media
    • Military
    • National
    • Opinion
    • Politics
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • Uncategorized
    • World
    Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

    Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

    Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

    Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

    A Bridge Too Far

    A Bridge Too Far

    Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

    Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

    New Jersey Organizations Demand Strong Response To Insurrectionists

    New Jersey Organizations Demand
    Strong Response To Insurrectionists

    We Need Amy Kennedy Now

    An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

    “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

    “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

    Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

    Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

    Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

    Donald Trump Must Be Held
    To Account For His Crimes

    Trending Tags

    • Politics
      Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

      Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

      Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

      Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

      A Bridge Too Far

      A Bridge Too Far

      New Jersey Organizations Demand Strong Response To Insurrectionists

      New Jersey Organizations Demand
      Strong Response To Insurrectionists

      We Need Amy Kennedy Now

      An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

      Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

      Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

      Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

      Donald Trump Must Be Held
      To Account For His Crimes

      All Our Sons

      All Our Sons

      It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden To Simply Be Human

      It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden
      To Simply Be Human

      We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

      We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

      Trending Tags

      • politics
    • Justice
      Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

      Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

      “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

      “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

      Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

      Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

      Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

      Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

      Non-Violence Isn’t A Just Moral Imperative, It’s A Superior Strategy

      Non-Violence Isn’t A Just Moral Imperative, It’s A Superior Strategy

      The Future Of The Supreme Court

      The Future Of The Supreme Court

      Why We Fight (Part One): The Uphill Battle

      The Fight To Decide Whose Life Matters

      Legalize It

      Legalize It

      A Rational Response To Perpetual Atrocity Is Rage

      A Rational Response To Perpetual Atrocity Is Rage

      Community Concerns Fall On Deaf Ears

      Community Concerns Fall On Deaf Ears

      Trending Tags

      • Justice
    • Culture
      Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

      Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

      The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

      The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

      Why We Can’t Talk About It

      Why We Can’t Talk About It

      Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

      Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

      Why We Can’t Be Friends

      Why We Can’t Be Friends

      Arguing With Idiots

      The Weight Of Empathy

      The Problem With White Men

      The Problem With White Men

      A Walking Hard-On

      A Walking Hard-On

      One Conspiracy Theory To Rule Them All

      One Conspiracy Theory To Rule Them All

      Trending Tags

      • Satire

        Arguing With Idiots

        White House Criticizes Bob Woodward For Taking President Seriously

        White House Criticizes Bob Woodward For Taking President Seriously

        Senator Rand Paul Subpoenas Tooth Fairy

        Senator Rand Paul Subpoenas Tooth Fairy

        Mmm Mmm Good

        Mmm Mmm Good

        Trending Tags

        • Education
          Gold, Lies, And Genocide In The New World

          Gold, Lies, And Genocide In The New World

          Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

          Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

          The Covid Kids Are Alright

          The Covid Kids Are Alright

          The Problem With The Pledge Of Allegiance

          The Problem With The Pledge Of Allegiance

          A Boat Full Of Holes

          A Boat Full Of Holes

          Why I Don’t Worry About My Kids Falling Behind

          Why I Don’t Worry About My Kids Falling Behind

          Any Plan To Reopen Schools This Fall Is Irresponsible And Negligent

          Any Plan To Reopen Schools This Fall Is Irresponsible And Negligent

          An Acceptable Loss

          An Acceptable Loss

          Educating Children During Quarantine

          Educating Children During Quarantine

          Thinking Outside The Curriculum

          Thinking Outside The Curriculum

          Trending Tags

          • Education
        • Housing
          Let the Voters Decide

          Cape May’s Untouchables

          The Cost Of Homelessness in Cape May County

          The Cost Of Homelessness in Cape May County

          Who Cares For Cape May County’s Unwanted?

          Who Cares For Cape May County’s Unwanted?

          The Myth Of American Justice: Falling Through The Cracks Part Two

          Falling Through The Cracks: Part One

          Falling Through The Cracks: Part One

          Criminalizing Homelessness

          Criminalizing Homelessness

          We Are The Branches

          We Are The Branches

          Code Blue At The Beach

          Code Blue At The Beach

          In Small-Town America, the Public Housing Crisis Nobody’s Talking About

          In Small-Town America, the Public Housing Crisis Nobody’s Talking About

        • Health
          It’s Going To Get Worse

          It’s Going To Get Worse

          Trump’s October Surprise

          Trump’s October Surprise

          Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

          Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

          A Boat Full Of Holes

          A Boat Full Of Holes

          The Value Of Living This Life

          The Value Of Living This Life

          America’s Battle Fatigue

          America’s Battle Fatigue

          Gov Murphy Announces New Stricter Measures Concerning Social Distancing in New Jersey

          Gov Murphy Announces New Stricter Measures Concerning Social Distancing in New Jersey

          Victoria Manor Coronavirus Outbreak Reports First Fatality

          Victoria Manor Coronavirus Outbreak Reports First Fatality

          The Perils Of Living In Trump Country During A Pandemic

          The Perils Of Living In Trump Country During A Pandemic

          Cape May County Announces Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing Site for Cape May County Residents

          Cape May County Announces Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing Site for Cape May County Residents

          Trending Tags

          • Healthcare
        • Opinion
          We Need Amy Kennedy Now

          An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

          Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

          Donald Trump Must Be Held
          To Account For His Crimes

          All Our Sons

          All Our Sons

          It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden To Simply Be Human

          It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden
          To Simply Be Human

          We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

          We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

          The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

          The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

          Why We Can’t Talk About It

          Why We Can’t Talk About It

          Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

          Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

          Why We Can’t Be Friends

          Why We Can’t Be Friends

          Something To Believe In: A Roadmap To Relevance

          Something To Believe In: A Roadmap To Relevance

          Trending Tags

          No Result
          View All Result
          • Home
            • All
            • Business
            • Culture
            • Education
            • Environment
            • Health
            • Housing
            • Immigration
            • Justice
            • Letters
            • Media
            • Military
            • National
            • Opinion
            • Politics
            • Satire
            • Sports
            • Uncategorized
            • World
            Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

            Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

            Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

            Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

            A Bridge Too Far

            A Bridge Too Far

            Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

            Objective Journalism Does Not Entail Telling Both Sides

            New Jersey Organizations Demand Strong Response To Insurrectionists

            New Jersey Organizations Demand
            Strong Response To Insurrectionists

            We Need Amy Kennedy Now

            An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

            “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

            “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

            Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

            Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

            Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

            Donald Trump Must Be Held
            To Account For His Crimes

            Trending Tags

            • Politics
              Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

              Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

              Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

              Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

              A Bridge Too Far

              A Bridge Too Far

              New Jersey Organizations Demand Strong Response To Insurrectionists

              New Jersey Organizations Demand
              Strong Response To Insurrectionists

              We Need Amy Kennedy Now

              An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

              Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

              Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

              Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

              Donald Trump Must Be Held
              To Account For His Crimes

              All Our Sons

              All Our Sons

              It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden To Simply Be Human

              It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden
              To Simply Be Human

              We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

              We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

              Trending Tags

              • politics
            • Justice
              Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

              Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

              “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

              “This Political Climate Got My Brother Killed”: Officer Brian Sicknick Died Defending the Capitol. His Family Waits for Answers.

              Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

              Florida Man Who Went Viral For Stealing Podium Identified

              Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

              Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

              Non-Violence Isn’t A Just Moral Imperative, It’s A Superior Strategy

              Non-Violence Isn’t A Just Moral Imperative, It’s A Superior Strategy

              The Future Of The Supreme Court

              The Future Of The Supreme Court

              Why We Fight (Part One): The Uphill Battle

              The Fight To Decide Whose Life Matters

              Legalize It

              Legalize It

              A Rational Response To Perpetual Atrocity Is Rage

              A Rational Response To Perpetual Atrocity Is Rage

              Community Concerns Fall On Deaf Ears

              Community Concerns Fall On Deaf Ears

              Trending Tags

              • Justice
            • Culture
              Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

              Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

              The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

              The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

              Why We Can’t Talk About It

              Why We Can’t Talk About It

              Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

              Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

              Why We Can’t Be Friends

              Why We Can’t Be Friends

              Arguing With Idiots

              The Weight Of Empathy

              The Problem With White Men

              The Problem With White Men

              A Walking Hard-On

              A Walking Hard-On

              One Conspiracy Theory To Rule Them All

              One Conspiracy Theory To Rule Them All

              Trending Tags

              • Satire

                Arguing With Idiots

                White House Criticizes Bob Woodward For Taking President Seriously

                White House Criticizes Bob Woodward For Taking President Seriously

                Senator Rand Paul Subpoenas Tooth Fairy

                Senator Rand Paul Subpoenas Tooth Fairy

                Mmm Mmm Good

                Mmm Mmm Good

                Trending Tags

                • Education
                  Gold, Lies, And Genocide In The New World

                  Gold, Lies, And Genocide In The New World

                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  The Covid Kids Are Alright

                  The Covid Kids Are Alright

                  The Problem With The Pledge Of Allegiance

                  The Problem With The Pledge Of Allegiance

                  A Boat Full Of Holes

                  A Boat Full Of Holes

                  Why I Don’t Worry About My Kids Falling Behind

                  Why I Don’t Worry About My Kids Falling Behind

                  Any Plan To Reopen Schools This Fall Is Irresponsible And Negligent

                  Any Plan To Reopen Schools This Fall Is Irresponsible And Negligent

                  An Acceptable Loss

                  An Acceptable Loss

                  Educating Children During Quarantine

                  Educating Children During Quarantine

                  Thinking Outside The Curriculum

                  Thinking Outside The Curriculum

                  Trending Tags

                  • Education
                • Housing
                  Let the Voters Decide

                  Cape May’s Untouchables

                  The Cost Of Homelessness in Cape May County

                  The Cost Of Homelessness in Cape May County

                  Who Cares For Cape May County’s Unwanted?

                  Who Cares For Cape May County’s Unwanted?

                  The Myth Of American Justice: Falling Through The Cracks Part Two

                  Falling Through The Cracks: Part One

                  Falling Through The Cracks: Part One

                  Criminalizing Homelessness

                  Criminalizing Homelessness

                  We Are The Branches

                  We Are The Branches

                  Code Blue At The Beach

                  Code Blue At The Beach

                  In Small-Town America, the Public Housing Crisis Nobody’s Talking About

                  In Small-Town America, the Public Housing Crisis Nobody’s Talking About

                • Health
                  It’s Going To Get Worse

                  It’s Going To Get Worse

                  Trump’s October Surprise

                  Trump’s October Surprise

                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  A Boat Full Of Holes

                  A Boat Full Of Holes

                  The Value Of Living This Life

                  The Value Of Living This Life

                  America’s Battle Fatigue

                  America’s Battle Fatigue

                  Gov Murphy Announces New Stricter Measures Concerning Social Distancing in New Jersey

                  Gov Murphy Announces New Stricter Measures Concerning Social Distancing in New Jersey

                  Victoria Manor Coronavirus Outbreak Reports First Fatality

                  Victoria Manor Coronavirus Outbreak Reports First Fatality

                  The Perils Of Living In Trump Country During A Pandemic

                  The Perils Of Living In Trump Country During A Pandemic

                  Cape May County Announces Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing Site for Cape May County Residents

                  Cape May County Announces Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing Site for Cape May County Residents

                  Trending Tags

                  • Healthcare
                • Opinion
                  We Need Amy Kennedy Now

                  An Open Letter To Congressman Van Drew

                  Donald Trump Must Be Held To Account For His Crimes

                  Donald Trump Must Be Held
                  To Account For His Crimes

                  All Our Sons

                  All Our Sons

                  It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden To Simply Be Human

                  It’s Not Enough For Joe Biden
                  To Simply Be Human

                  We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

                  We Have To Stop Trusting Our Leaders To Do The Right Thing

                  The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

                  The Godless Piety Of American Idealism As Reality Television

                  Why We Can’t Talk About It

                  Why We Can’t Talk About It

                  Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

                  Defund The Police Was A Raging Success And Everyone Missed It

                  Why We Can’t Be Friends

                  Why We Can’t Be Friends

                  Something To Believe In: A Roadmap To Relevance

                  Something To Believe In: A Roadmap To Relevance

                  Trending Tags

                  • About
                  • Privacy
                  • Donate
                  • Contact
                  No Result
                  View All Result
                  The Standard
                  No Result
                  View All Result
                  Home Environment

                  Using Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones

                  Homeowners have to bear the cost of fixing the agency's mistakes.

                  byProPublica
                  3 years ago
                  inEnvironment
                  Reading Time: 6min read
                  148
                  0
                  Using Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones

                  Photo: AP

                  127
                  SHARES
                  175
                  VIEWS
                  Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail this story!

                  As climate change continues to effect weather patterns, how areas are designated could have huge effects on insurance rates and even on your ability to collect.

                  by Theodoric Meyerfor ProPublica.

                  When Donna Edgar found out that new flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would place her house in a high-risk flood zone, she couldn’t believe it.

                  Her home, on the ranch she and her husband own in Texas hill country about 60 miles north of Austin, sits well back from the nearby Lampasas River.

                  “Her house is on a hill,” said Herb Darling, the director of environmental services for Burnet County, where Edgar lives. “There’s no way it’s going to flood.”

                  Yet the maps, released last year, placed the Edgars in what FEMA calls a “special flood hazard area.” Homeowners in such areas are often required, and always encouraged, to buy federal flood insurance, which the Edgars did.

                  FEMA eventually admitted the maps were wrong. But it took Edgar half a dozen engineers (many of whom volunteered their time), almost $1,000 of her own money and what she called an “ungodly number of hours” of research and phone calls over the course of a year to prove it.

                  Edgars is far from alone.

                  From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA’s recent flood maps — which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance— have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA’s mistakes.

                  “It’s been a mess,” Darling said. “It’s been a headache for a lot of people.”

                  Joseph Young, Maine’s floodplain mapping coordinator, said his office gets calls “almost on a daily basis” from homeowners who say they’ve been mapped in high-risk flood areas in error. More often than not, he said, their complaints have merit. “There’s a lot of people who have a new map that’s unreliable,” he said.

                  Maps built with out-of-date data can also result in homeowners at risk of flooding not knowing the threat they face.

                  FEMA is currently finalizing new maps for Fargo, N.D., yet the maps don’t include any recent flood data, said April Walker, the city engineer, including from when the Red River overran its banks in 1997, 2009 and 2011. Those floods were the worst in Fargo’s history.

                  Fargo has more recent data, Walker said, but FEMA hasn’t incorporated it.

                  It’s unclear exactly how many new maps FEMA has issued in recent years are at least partly based on older data. While FEMA’s website allows anybody to look-up flood mapsfor their areas, the agency’s maps don’t show the age of the underlying data.

                  FEMA’s director of risk analysis, Doug Bellomo, said it was “very rare” for the agency to digitize the old paper flood maps without updating some of the data. “We really don’t go down the road” of simply digitizing old maps, he said.

                  FEMA did not respond to questions about the maps for Fargo or other specific areas.

                  State and local floodplain officials pointed to examples where FEMA had issued new maps based at least in part on outdated data. The reason, they said, wasn’t complicated.

                  “Not enough funding, pure and simple,” Young said.

                  Using new technology, FEMA today is able to gather far more accurate elevation data than it could in the 1970s and 1980s, when most of the old flood maps were made. Lidar, in which airplanes map terrain by firing laser pulses at the ground, can provide data that’s 10 times more accurate than the old methods.

                  Lidar is also expensive. Yet as we’ve reported, Congress, with the support of the White House, has actually cut map fundingby more than half since 2010, from $221 million down to $100 million this year.

                  With limited funding, FEMA has concentrated on updating maps for the populated areas along the coasts. In rural areas, “it’s sort of a necessary evil to reissue maps with older data on them,” said Sally McConkey, an engineer with the Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which has a contract with FEMA to produce flood maps in the state.

                  When old maps are digitized, mapmakers try to match up road intersections visible on them with the ones seen in modern satellite imagery (similar to what you can see using Google Earth). But the old maps and the new imagery don’t always line up correctly, leading to what Alan R. Lulloff, the science services program director with the Association of State Floodplain Managers, called a “warping” effect.

                  “It can show areas that are actually on high ground as being in the flood hazard area when they’re not,” he said. “That’s the biggest problem.”

                  When FEMA issued new maps last year for Livingston Parish in Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, they included new elevation data. But the flood studies, said Eddie Aydell III, the chief engineer with Alvin Fairburnin Denham Springs, La., who examined the maps, were “a conglomeration of many different ancient engineering studies” dating from the 1980s to 2001. The mapmakers did not match up the new elevation data with the older data correctly, he said, making structures in the parish seem lower than they really are.

                  “It’s going to be a nightmare for the residents of our parish,” he said.

                  Bonnie Marston’s parents, Jim and Glynda Childs, moved to Andover, Maine, where Marston lives with her husband, in 2010 with the intention of building a house. But when they applied for a loan the bank told them that FEMA’s new flood maps for the county, issued the year before, had placed the land on which they planned to build in a special flood hazard area. The cost: a $3,200 annual flood insurance bill, which the Childs had to pay upfront.

                  Marston spent about $1,400 to hire a surveyor, who concluded her parents did not belong in a special flood hazard area. FEMA eventually removed the requirement for them to buy flood insurance — though it didn’t actually update the map. The bank refunded the flood insurance premium, but Marston said FEMA wouldn’t refund the cost of the survey.

                  “In my mind it’s a huge rip-off,” Marston said.

                  Edgar, 68, a retired IBM software developer, said she couldn’t understand why FEMA thought her house was suddenly at risk of flooding. When she called FEMA and asked, she said the agency couldn’t tell her.

                  “They just said, ‘You need to buy flood insurance,’” she said, and told her she could apply for what’s known as a letter of map amendment if she thought she’d been mapped into a special flood hazard area in error. She worried that being in a high-risk flood area would diminish the value of her home.

                  Her husband, Thomas, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, knew David R. Maidment, a civil engineering professor there who is an expert on flood insurance mapping. While she hired a surveyor and wrangled with FEMA, Maidment and several of his Ph.D. students drove up to the ranch to study it as a class project.

                  The experience, Maidment said, showed him “in a very small microcosm” the importance of using up-to-date elevation data in new maps. The Texas state government paid to map Burnet County, where the Edgars’ ranch is located, in 2011 using lidar. But FEMA’s new maps for the county don’t include the lidar data.

                  FEMA removed the Edgars from the special flood hazard area in March, but again it hasn’t actually changed the maps. Letters of map amendment acknowledge that FEMA’s maps were incorrect without actually changing them. While the Edgars don’t have to buy flood insurance, the new, inaccurate maps remain.

                  Darling, the county’s director of environmental services, said he had gotten calls from dozens of homeowners with similar complaints about the new flood maps.

                  “We’ve still got ‘em coming in,” he said.

                  The contractor that created the new maps appeared to have taken shortcuts in drawing them, Darling said. Without new lidar data, he added, issuing a new map is “just a waste of money.”

                  The experience, Edgar said, had left her feeling deeply frustrated, as a both homeowner and a taxpayer. FEMA hasn’t reimbursed her for the surveying costs or for the flood insurance premium she and her husband paid. “It falls to the homeowner to hire a professional engineer and pay” hundreds, even thousands, “to disprove what I would call their shoddy work,” she said. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

                  Have you experienced problems with FEMA’s flood maps firsthand? Let us know.

                  Source: ProPublica

                  Related

                  Tags: Cape MayClimate ChangeFEMAFloodFlood mapsFloodingMapsNewsThe Standard
                  Previous Post

                  The FBI’s Secret Rules

                  Next Post

                  The Transformation of the Super Bowl Ad Experience

                  Next Post
                  The Transformation of the Super Bowl Ad Experience

                  The Transformation of the Super Bowl Ad Experience

                  Meta

                  • Register
                  • Log in
                  • Entries feed
                  • Comments feed
                  • WordPress.org
                  • Trending
                  • Comments
                  • Latest
                  You Are Not Welcome Here

                  You Are Not Welcome Here

                  August 14, 2020
                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  Social Distancing Fails At Ocean City High School

                  September 9, 2020
                  Trump, Chauncey Gardiner, And America’s Accidental Presidency

                  Trump, Chauncey Gardiner, And America’s Accidental Presidency

                  January 29, 2020
                  It Is Time For Patrician Democracy To End

                  It Is Time For Patrician Democracy To End

                  2
                  Why Do We Resist?

                  Why Do We Resist?

                  2
                  Republicans Have A Casual Relationship With The Truth And No Moral Compass

                  Republicans Have A Casual Relationship With The Truth And No Moral Compass

                  1
                  Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

                  Restoring Pride In The Stars And Stripes

                  January 20, 2021
                  Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

                  Who Are The Oath Keepers And What Are They Doing In New Jersey?

                  January 13, 2021
                  A Bridge Too Far

                  A Bridge Too Far

                  January 12, 2021

                  ©2019 Hopping Frog Studios, LLC.

                  No Result
                  View All Result
                  • Home
                  • Politics
                  • Justice
                  • Environment
                  • Health
                  • Education
                  • Housing
                  • Business
                  • Culture
                  • Sports
                  • National
                  • Opinion
                  • Login
                  • Sign Up

                  ©2019 Hopping Frog Studios, LLC.

                  Welcome Back!

                  Login to your account below

                  Forgotten Password? Sign Up

                  Create New Account!

                  Fill the forms below to register

                  All fields are required. Log In

                  Retrieve your password

                  Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

                  Log In
                  This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
                  Privacy & Cookies Policy

                  Privacy Overview

                  This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
                  Necessary
                  Always Enabled

                  Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

                  Non-necessary

                  Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.