Flood Mitigation Task Force

[Leslie Pool]

Colleagues, relating to our plan to review the City's policies on flood buyouts and permitting development in flood plains, and knowing FEMA officials are in Austin responding to the Memorial Day 2015 floods, I'm copying below some details from today's Statesman to keep in mind about NFIP and FEMA programs that may help residents - whether they rent or own - living in Austin's flood plains. I recently met with residents in Central Austin whose homes are in the red zone: properties newly designated as part of the flood plain. They have many questions and concerns over their new status, and worry that they may not be able to sell their homes, or their homes will decline in value, or they won't be able to afford the required flood insurance ... this is just the leading edge of worries should the various tributaries of Shoal Creek come flooding through Brentwood neighborhoods again, worries they share with the many families who were flooded during the 2013 Halloween event on Onion Creek and throughout Central Texas this May. Those who haven't been flooded can only imagine the resulting dislocation and uncertainty that accompanies your home being inundated ... I believe we all want to do what we can to help.

I look forward to working through these issues with the task force.

The Statesman article includes these points:

1. The City must regulate flood-prone areas for residents to be eligible for reduced-cost federal flood insurance.
2. While property owners are notified that they live in a flood plain, renters may not ever know their status; landlords are not required to notify tenants that they live in a flood zone.
3. FEMA's flood insurance program requires communities to prohibit construction in “floodways,” which are certain to flood on a regular basis, and to require owners in the 100-year flood plain to buy insurance.
4. FEMA’s flood plain designations are a starting point for regulating flood-prone areas, not the only restriction. The agency encourages communities to adopt additional measures through its voluntary Community Rating System, which gives further discounts to all flood insurance policyholders if the city or county agrees to stricter regulations. Austin residents get a 20% discount; Pflugerville residents get 15%; Bastrop County residents 10%; Wimberley doesn’t participate.
5. Beware "flood amnesia" - a condition that occurs when policy makers forget the real - if random - likelihood that massive flooding will recur.

Article by Sean Collins Walsh | scwalsh@statesman.com  
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/loca ... lop/nmxQt/