Preliminary flood maps would help Amelia, Cypremort Point

FEMA has revised preliminary flood maps for St. Mary Parish, which if finalized, will allow homeowners in Amelia and Cypremort Point to build new homes at elevations 1 foot to 4 feet lower than previously allowed and still be accredited for 100-year flood protection.
Cypremort Point and Amelia benefit from FEMA’s revised preliminary digital flood insurance rate maps as the base flood elevations have decreased in those areas, St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said. The maps are a revised version of the 2008 flood maps that the parish hasn’t yet adopted.
The new preliminary maps are dated June 30, 2015.
Cypremort Point will see about a 4-foot reduction in the base flood elevations, while Amelia will get a 1-foot to 4-foot drop in elevations, Matte said.
Base flood elevations determine the height that levees must reach in order to accredited for flood insurance purposes.
If the preliminary flood maps are finalized the way they currently look, owners constructing new homes or other buildings in Amelia and Cypremort Point will only have to build to the reduced height in order to be covered by flood insurance, Matte said.
“This is the first time the maps have been published with the seclusion,” Matte said.
FEMA’s concept of seclusion came about years after the preliminary 2008 digital flood insurance rate maps were produced, he said.
Previously, parishes weren’t allowed to adopt their flood maps unless all communities within a particular parish did so, Matte said. Seclusion lets the parish adopt the new flood maps while allowing the secluded areas to still go by the 1996 maps for flood insurance purposes. The secluded areas are accredited for 100-year flood protection under the 1996 maps.
Levees in the Morgan City and Franklin are secluded under the revised maps in addition to the Wax Lake East levees, which run from Berwick to the Calumet Cut and north to Patterson and Bayou Vista, Matte said.
Parish officials are working on projects to raise levees in the secluded areas of the parish before adopting the new maps.
In Morgan City, the average base flood elevation went up about five feet from the 1996 maps to the 2008 maps, Matte said.
The only changes on the revised 2015 preliminary flood maps from the 2008 preliminary flood maps are that the boundary of the Chitimacha tribe was added to the map and areas protected by non-accredited levees that were previously accredited are shown in seclusion, FEMA spokesman Earl Armstrong said.
Before the secluded areas are forced to adopt the final flood maps, FEMA would give the secluded communities the opportunity to go through the levee analysis and mapping procedure, Matte said.
Seclusion mapping maintains the flood hazard information as depicted on the effective Flood Insurance Rate Map, Armstrong said. It includes map notes explaining these flood hazards will be updated at a later time when updated levee analysis and mapping approach is applied or the levees can be accredited, he said.
Seclusion allows FEMA to provide community officials, residents and business owners with updated information about their local flood hazard, while identifying those areas where the levee-related flood hazards were not updated, Armstrong said.
The revised preliminary flood maps are subject to a 90-day appeal period. If any appeals are received, FEMA must resolve all appeals before going to the next phase in the process, Armstrong said. The community is then provided another 30-day comment period to comment on the appeal resolution.
Once all appeals have been resolved the next step is the Letter of Final Determination. The new flood maps will become effective six months from the date of the letter of final determination, Armstrong said.
Due to the nature of the appeal period, FEMA cannot provide a timeline for when the maps may be finalized, Armstrong said. This is because the time to resolve appeals varies depending upon the number and complexity of appeals received, he said.
Homeowners, renters and business owners in St. Mary Parish are encouraged to review newly revised preliminary flood maps to determine their flood risks and make informed decisions, according to a FEMA news release.
FEMA presented the revised preliminary flood maps in order to help community leaders and residents identify flood risks. This information can then be used to make decisions about buying flood insurance. This data also helps the community move forward with any future development plans.
To view the new flood maps, contact your local floodplain administrator or follow the links below:
To view the preliminary maps online visit: http://maps.riskmap6.com/LA/StMary/
To use a live chat service visit go.usa.gov/r6C. Click on the “Live Chat” icon.
To contact a FEMA Map Specialist call 1-877-FEMA MAP (1-877-336-2627) or send an email to FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com.
Once a flood risk is identified, the next step is to consider the purchase of a flood policy from the National Flood Insurance Program.
Contact a local insurance agent to learn more. Visit www.floodsmart.gov or call 1-888-379-9531 to locate an agent in your area.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.