By JAMES TWOMEY
Floodplain zoning administrator
In previous articles, I talked about the floodways (those areas where flooding is normal and expected), flood fringes (those areas where water can flow or stand during a flood event), and other areas that are less likely to flood, but have historically been inundated a few times.
Very few buildings and no homes are allowed in the floodway, and our community does not allow for new development in that area. But many houses and commercial buildings are located in the flood fringe areas. The purpose of this article is to help property owners who have structures in the flood fringe realize two things:
1) Flood insurance is the difference between getting nearly immediate compensation or waiting up to four years for a “buyout.” I have heard many stories of hardship in Viola, Ontario, and Kendall, andalthough we cannot change the past, we can plan for a different future. Purchasing flood insurance is wise financial planning.
2) The flood fringe has been underestimated by previous maps and is slowly expanding. There are many reasons for this. River gauges are expensive, engineering studies are expensive, and administrators are overwhelmed. Facts on the ground change faster than the maps do. Rivers change their meandering course, additional structures get built that change the way water moves during a flood, and global and local changes in commodity prices change agricultural land use, which can significantlyaffect the speed at which water runs off our hills.
I want to encourage property owners to visit a new website that has tried to create realistic and updated flood risks for our communities. It’s called floodfactor.com.
At the top of the website, enter your village name and state. There are several graphs, maps, and zoom-in views to see each street and structure. It’s worth a few moments of your time to assess the risks to your financial well-being and the community’s future.
There’s no need to panic or be alarmed. My purpose is simply to help keep in mind what is so easy to forget. Flood risks are real and even likely to occur in some places.
However, we can reduce our exposure to risk by 1) purchasing flood insurance; 2) making our homes more resistant to damage by moving expensive appliances out of the basement and putting them on the first floor; 3) elevating the electrical panels and other shut offs to be above the high water mark; and 4) installing basement drain check valves to prevent sewer water from entering your basement. Taking these steps, even one per year, will allow our communities to bounce back from the next flood event.