Officials to make digital flood plan

A nationwide map modernization program will be taking place in different locations throughout Mineral County and may help landowners find an accurate and definite location for the area's flood plains.

The program, which is primarily funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA - and partially by the state, will create a Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map for areas in Mineral County. The process is being overseen by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

The map, which is currently not digital, tells homeowners and insurance companies where the flood plains lay, said Karen Price of High Star Consulting. Price attended a meeting with Mineral County commissioners and other interested parties March 4 to talk about which parts of Mineral County needed to be re-mapped during the process.

“From what I can understand, Mineral County is a high priority for the state,” Price said.

She said people with homes that lie in a flood plain have to purchase costly flood insurance. Price added that the process may take some homes out of pre-established flood plains and bring others into them.

Larry Schock, a regional engineer with the DNRC, said the community will have an important head start in helping homeowners know whether or not they will need to purchase flood insurance. He said that the community will see copies of the new flood plain maps 90 days before the maps go to insurance companies. Schock said that since flood insurance is very expensive for homes in the flood plains, it is the community's responsibility to alert homeowners to their changing status in time for them to get flood insurance before insurance companies find out about the designations. He said that that will allow homeowners to lock in a low rate.

“We want to provide accurate flood hazard risk,” Price said.

Schock said that some homes may be removed from the flood plains, and while these homeowners will no longer be required to have flood insurance, they should not necessarily abandon their coverage.

“These maps are generated by a computer model and we know that Mother Nature tends to do what she wants,” Schock said.

Mike Knutson, the state engineer with the DNRC, said that 34 percent of flood claims are in homes that are outside of established flood plains.

The areas that are going to be studied during the project are the confluence of the St. Regis and Clark Fork Rivers, the River Bend and Country Lane subdivisions in Superior. These areas were decided on at the March 4 meeting with some help from Mineral County Planner Tim Read.

“Either place (River Bend and Country Lane) has a gradual flood plain that leads off of the Clark Fork River. It would be great to finally get some definitive information on the area,” Read said.

Schock said that many of the current maps of flood plains are inaccurate because they were made by people who had never visited the sites and made their decisions based on topographic maps, which did not accurately depict the location of homes. He said that while on a map a home may have appeared to be right next to a river, there may have been a 40-foot tall cliff separating the home from flood danger that was not visible on the map.

“This is your chance to fix these places, and it's your local knowledge that is going to fix them,” Knutson said.

Price said that the entire process will take around two years.

“It seems like a long time to make a map, but people are working the whole way through,” Price said.

Price said that after FEMA approves the areas that were decided on during Tuesday's meeting, the surveying work will be contracted out and the project can begin. She added that when the project is completed the county will be provided with a digital copy of the new maps.