Following the worst natural disaster in United States history – the small matter of a killer storm that starts with a “K” – the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) set out to redo its flood elevation maps. The results have raised ire and confusion, and could imperil the ability of local residents to get flood insurance at all.

Flood insurance is a complicated issue. Since private insurance carriers will no longer offer it in homeowner’s policies, the federal government stepped in with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). NFIP rates are based on flood zones. Flood zones are based on Base Flood Elevations (BFEs). BFEs are established by FEMA. Follow all that? In short – or in alphabet soup – to get NFIP you have to reference the BFEs established by FEMA. 

Adding another step, the BFEs have to be adopted by local governments – city or parish councils, for example – before NFIP will or can remain in effect.

NOW do you get it?

Not if you’re lucky. Coastal St. Tammany Parish took a beating – a very wet beating – when the aforementioned storm rolled ashore on Aug. 29, 2005. Many flood victims didn’t have flood insurance, and many of those were outside the established “Flood Zone ‘A’,” where NFIP coverage is mandated by mortgage companies. Obviously, something was amiss.

“The Corps of Engineers hired a company to do a hydraulic model, which is how flood zones are determined,” said Donna O’Dell, director of engineering for the City of Slidell. “If these new flood maps are adopted, some property that has never flooded will be in Flood Zone A.”

So, naturally, the Slidell City Council has delayed adopting the maps, buying time for residents while appeals are being considered – a process O’Dell said could take as long as two years.

Sean Burkes, a land surveyor with J.V. Burkes and Associates, was retained by a group of homeowners east of Slidell to assist with their appeals.

Burkes said attempts at reworking the maps resulted in the coastal flood elevation being maintained at nine feet. But “coastal flooding” – primarily from events such as storm surges – are not the only causes of flooding. But the nine-foot mark was used as a benchmark anyway.

“They ran that as a starting point for the river models,” Burkes said. “You have different sources of flood.” And here’s the kicker: The maps and images FEMA used to create the new maps were devised in 1980.

“You’ve had 29 years of change,” Burkes said. “You’ve had subsidence. There are some areas that are sinking. But they assumed over land, the ground sank and (water) channels stayed the same.”

In fact, some benchmarks have sunk as much as 12 feet since 1980, Burkes said. But the channels have subsided, too. By assuming the channels hadn’t subsided, the map-makers took as a given that with shallower channels, water had less area for natural drainage and that more overland flooding was inevitable.

Once again, did you follow all that? If the ground sank but the bayous and streams and swales didn’t, that would mean water had shallower channels through which to drain. But, again, the channels sank, too. “Some of these channels were modeled a foot shallower than what they actually are,” Burkes said.

And residents who are looking at much steeper NFIP premiums are not taking the new maps lying down.

“There has been an appeal to FEMA from citizens who have never flooded before,” O’Dell said. “I think there will be some changes. They should really look at some of these appeals, because there are some pretty good points.”

Parish Government leaders think so, too. In a February press release, Parish President Kevin Davis announced that his office has filed a parish-wide appeal for FEMA to review the new maps and findings.

“It's very important that FEMA understand how seriously we are protesting and appealing their sweeping decisions in the reallocation of flood zones in St. Tammany Parish,” said Davis’ release. “We have worked extensively with our engineers regarding existing flood levels, and we believe FEMA has missed the mark in many areas of St. Tammany. Given the far reaching results flood zone designations can have on our citizens, I feel it is incumbent upon us as a parish government to step in and appeal this decision.”

“The City Council could adopt the maps today, but they won’t until the appeals are resolved,” O’Dell said. “If we don’t (ultimately) adopt the maps, we lose our (eligibility for) flood insurance.”

But the appeals are still pending, and may be for quite a while. “We’re not at that point yet,” O’Dell said. “It could be two years. It takes as long as it takes.” And as long as it takes is in no one’s local control.

Once the BFEs are adopted, the impact will be felt on builders, too. New construction will have to meet minimum flood elevations as dictated by the map, although existing structures won’t be affected. Unless....

And isn’t there always an “unless”?

“Existing buildings will have to be elevated to new BFE requirements, only if they have become substantially damaged,” O’Dell said.

So if your home falls below the new BFEs once they are adopted and burns or floods, reconstruction will require elevation to be in compliance with the BFE map.

“If it’s due to a storm, there’s money available in hazard mitigation to assist in raising the structure,” O’Dell said. 

But that’s a long way off, if it ever even occurs. What’s most pressing now is the matter of FEMA’s flood zone map and the appeals that have been filed.

“The net result is that a lot of areas that have never flooded are now considered in a flood zone,” Burkes said. “We shot elevations on a lot of homes in areas that were in (Flood Zone) ‘C’ and are now in ‘A’. They could be paying several thousand dollars a year in (NFIP) insurance.”

And this is no small matter. Since 1978, when local governments started participating in the NFIP, more than 30,000 claims have been filed by policyholders in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes alone, with a resultant $1.5 billion in payouts. Currently, there are 53,000 NFIP policies in effect in the two parishes, with annual premiums of more than $25 million insuring nearly $12 billion in coverage.

“This is not unique to Slidell,” O’Dell said. “But in St. Tammany Parish, we were the most affected. Whatever protests were made parish-wide will affect the city, as well. Hopefully there will be some pretty good changes made.”