Revised flood maps to benefit some property owners

Some property owners in Amelia should benefit immediately from recently released, revised flood maps that will allow people to build to a slightly lower elevation and be certified for flood insurance.
The St. Mary Levee District Commission held its monthly meeting Thursday at the Port of Morgan City’s Government Emergency and Operations Center.
Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said all municipalities in St. Mary Parish have received updated digital flood insurance rate maps from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Each municipality will adopt the revised maps within the next six months. Even before adopting the maps, the parish can benefit from the revised flood maps immediately, Matte said.
“In Cypremort Point and in Amelia, where the base flood elevations have gone down, the parish would now be authorized to use that information to issue a permit to construct. So you get the benefit right away,” Matte said.
Base flood elevations, which are the height that residents and business owners must build to for flood insurance purposes, dropped by as much as a foot in some parts of Amelia, he said.
The updated maps came about as a result of work the levee district did in 2015 to raise sections of a 2,700-foot stretch of the Wax Lake East levees by 1 to 2 feet. Levee District officials raised those levees because the Corps determined in 2013 that they had deficiencies for 100-year flood protection.
The Wax Lake East levees protect both Berwick and Patterson, though the deficient areas mostly affected Berwick.
Berwick has been using the 1996 flood maps for flood insurance purposes instead of the 2008 maps. Morgan City is also still using the 1996 maps, and is in the process of raising its levees to be certified.
Berwick and Morgan City will adopt the revised maps within the next six months but both will be secluded, meaning that they’ll still go by the 1996 maps temporarily, Matte said. The seclusion principle allows the rest of the parish to adopt its maps.
Berwick should soon be able to apply to get a new base flood elevation because the Corps labeled the Wax Lake East levees sufficient for 100-year flood protection and then be included in the new maps.
Morgan City won’t be able to adopt the 2008 maps until probably 2020, though, because the city is in the process of making levee improvements, Matte said.
During Thursday’s levee district meeting, Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi asked how officials plan to provide certified flood protection for Lakeside Subdivision.
Lakeside is the only part of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project for which officials haven’t yet decided what action should be taken to provide appropriate protection. The levee improvements project is aimed at certifying Morgan City’s levee system for flood protection to avoid potential flood insurance increases.
Levee District Commission President Bill Hidalgo said levee district and St. Mary Parish Drainage District 2 officials will make sure Lakeside is incorporated into the flood protection system.
Levee district officials are willing to take the lead on determining what should be done to provide flood protection for Lakeside, Matte said. No levees currently protect Lakeside.
The levee district has already spent over $50,000 studying possible flood protection options for Lakeside, he said.
Matte has budgeted another $50,000 in the district’s proposed 2017 budget to spend on studying the Lakeside project.
The commission introduced the 2017 proposed budget and 2016 amended budget Thursday. Both the proposed and amended budgets will be up for adoption at the commission’s Dec. 8 meeting.
The proposed budget includes $3.88 million in expenditures compared to $3.5 million in revenues. However, roughly $500,000 of those proposed costs are only to be spent in the event of an emergency flood, Matte said.
Construction is continuing on the first phase of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project, which includes raising levees in Siracusaville. The work began in May and is expected to finish in February.
The next phase to go to construction will be the Lake End Park to Justa Street section, which is set to open bids next week, engineer Kevin O’Gorman of T. Baker Smith said.
Other parts of the Morgan City levee project include raising La. 70 and tying the highway into the levee system, along with moving a pumping station near Lake End Park.