flood_maps

Federal officials and the de Blasio administration have reached a deal that could resolve many complaints about the way flood maps are being applied in the five boroughs. In a statement Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would create new maps to show which parts of the city would be inundated by a 100-year-flood at some point in the future. The announcement comes after many environmentalists and planners criticized the agency for failing to take sea-level rise into account in creating the maps, saying that a beachfront house elevated to a "safe" height today wouldn't be able to withstand a minor flood 50 years from now. City officials, meanwhile, said they would use the new maps to determine the elevation at which the ground floors of new buildings would have to be constructed, though many details have yet to be sorted out. "The intent of the new climate-smart flood map is to develop the tools to give us a better understanding of long-term risk, and so we can then start baking that understanding into how we build," said Daniel Zarrilli, the director of the city's Office of Rebuilding and Resiliency. In the other part of the agreement, FEMA agreed to revise the draft flood map it proposed in January 2015, which would have doubled the number of homes and buildings in the flood zone. That proposal alarmed city officials and housing advocates because it would have severely financially strained thousands of low- and middle-income New Yorkers: property owners in FEMA flood plains must buy flood insurance to qualify for a mortgage, a requirement that can add thousands of dollars to the yearly cost of maintaining a building. The city had said FEMA used faulty data from a storm in 1950 that threw off predictions of what should be considered a "100-year-flood." "The result really skewed the whole analysis, because this one storm was much worse than any of the other winter season storms," said Philip Orton, an assistant research professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, who examined FEMA's methodology on behalf of the city. It is expected that both maps — one to guide new building and the other for insurance on old buildings — will take three to four years to finalize.          

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released new maps with big consequences for homeowners in New Jersey. The flood insurance maps released by FEMA in the aftermath of Sandy required many home and business owners to elevate their structures, or risk higher flood insurance rates. But revised maps for New Jersey have greatly reduced the number of homes located in the highest-risk zones, and a great number of homeowners that were once concerned about what to do with their homes are now relieved. New Jersey Public Radio reporter Scott Gurian explains.  

Advisory flood maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the past four months were supposed to help people figure out how to rebuild higher and stronger. But in some parts of the region, the maps have sparked a backlash because they will potentially require thousands of homes to buy flood insurance that did not need to before. The new flood maps, if approved, would add more than 65,000 structures in New York and New Jersey to the 100-year-flood zones—areas that FEMA believes face a 1 percent-a-year change of flooding. Everyone in those zones is required to get flood insurance if they have a federally-backed mortgage. Many homeowners are finding fault with the maps, particularly those who find themselves for the first time in “V zones”, areas within the flood zones that are subject to the velocity of waves. To qualify for low insurance rates, homeowners in V zones must not only build above the flood elevation, but also put their houses on stilts or use other methods so that the foundation can withstand wave action.  The entire island of Broad Channel, Queens, in the middle of Jamaica Bay, is considered a V zone, according to the advisory maps. But Dan Mundy, the president of the civic association there, says there is no way the western side of the island could be hit by waves. “All the hurricanes and nor’easters in this area come up in a counter-clockwise rotation,” Mundy said. “The wind always comes out of the East.” Similarly, George Kasimos, a Realtor in Toms River, New Jersey, saw his house placed in an advisory V zone even though it is on a lagoon on the inland side of Barneget Bay. He formed a group, Stop FEMA Now, that has more than 2,000 Facebook members and is getting bigger and bigger crowds at gatherings. “We don’t understand,” he said, “how a wave is going to miraculously come over the barrier islands, over a shallow bay, in front of a couple other bulkheads and then hit us with a three-foot wave.” Within a few years, homeowners in V zones face insurance premiums as high as $31,000 a year if they do not elevate their homes or conform to wave-resistant building techniques. And that’s in part because the new maps come at the same time that insurance premiums are increasing 20 to 25 percent a year, thanks to federal legislation that’s supposed to reduce taxpayer subsidies to the troubled National Flood Insurance Program. New York lawmakers have sponsored a bill that would slow the rate of increases in the premiums to just 5 percent a year for the next four years. “Constituents have come up and talked about how they’re trying to rebuild their lives, that they lost everything in the storm,” said Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat who represents Broad Channel and who co-sponsored the bill. The new maps still have to be finalized and are not likely to take effect for 18 months or more. Already FEMA seems to backing away from some of the findings. Last week, the head of FEMA’s risk analysis division, Doug Bellomo, said the method for estimating how high the waves would be in certain areas may have been “overstated.”

If Staten Island’s Great Kills Marina Cafe is able to reopen this spring after Sandy ripped apart its interior – blowing out windows and punching through walls – it will be thanks to assistance from the federal government. The Small Business Administration has approved the restaurant for a disaster loan of almost $1 million. There’s just one problem: Newly drawn FEMA flood maps show the cafe is at high risk of flooding again, raising the question of whether it makes sense to rebuild there or move elsewhere. The cafe is not alone. A WNYC and ProPublica analysis of federal data shows at least 10,500 home and business owners been approved for $766 million in SBA disaster loans to rebuild in areas that the government now says could flood again in the next big storm. The data, which shows loans approved through mid-February, was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. More loans could be going to flood-prone areas. The analysis did not cover Long Island or Connecticut. See the full map here The loans require borrowers to get flood insurance, which in turn could encourage some to rebuild properties to be more flood-resistant. However, for many owners there’s no requirement they raise their properties to the heights FEMA recommends. The result: the federal government is helping people rebuild despite the risk flooding will again destroy the properties.  The SBA says it’s not their job to assess whether it’s smart to build in flood-prone areas. “Our mission is to help these homeowners and business become whole again,” said Carol Chastang, an SBA spokeswoman. “We really aren't in a position to tell people where or where not to rebuild.” Such a hands-off approach worries a diverse coalition of advocates -- including conservative groups, environmental organizations, insurance associations and housing coalitions. These groups are urging government at all levels to change the way it builds in disaster-prone areas and insures such properties. Environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation say the best flood protection are wetlands and to leave stretches of the coast undeveloped. “Ideally we’re going to help people move away from the flood zone and not give them assistance to rebuild exactly as is,” said Joshua Saks, the federation’s legislative director. “But we recognize it’s a very personal decision, it’s a local decision.” For Sam Corigliano, the decision is obvious. Corigliano opened the Great Kills Marina Café in 1980 and built it into a neighborhood fixture over the years. “We’ve been here 32 years, had 32 years of good luck, and good fortune and laughs. We’ve had parties here, christenings, family events, a lot of happy times. We had one bad day,” Corigliano said. “You don’t walk away from one bad day.” The program Disaster loans are one of the main tools the federal government has to help homeowners, nonprofits and business owners after something like Sandy. The Small Business Administration provides as much as $200,000 for damaged homes and $2 million for businesses. In rare cases, homeowners might qualify to have a portion of their mortgage refinanced with an SBA loan. The loans carry low interest rates – as little as 1.7 percent for home loans and as low as four percent for business loans -- and can be repaid over 30 years. As of mid-February, the SBA approved more than 21,500 disaster loans worth $1.5 billion for Sandy-related damage, according to a copy of the loan database WNYC and ProPublica obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The SBA estimates it could ultimately approve as much as $2.5 billion worth of Sandy-related disaster loans. The loans are an important tool the government uses to help stabilize an area’s tax base, said James Rivera, associate administrator in the SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance and the official in charge of the disaster loan program. “It’s good government. I mean, basically it’s what the private sector won’t do,” Rivera said. The SBA also checks to make sure applicants have an ability to repay the loans. Government loan officers will check an applicant’s credit history, finances and collateral. The SBA approves about 52 percent of applicants, Rivera said. Field inspectors assess damage and determine the maximum amount the SBA will loan. The SBA disburses the money like a construction loan – in chunks as work is completed – minus whatever a borrower’s insurance covers. The flood zone At the same time the SBA was approving disaster loans, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was releasing new “advisory” flood zone maps. Approved maps ultimately determine flood insurance rates and help builders decide how high to make their properties. The existing maps that govern building along the coast are from 1983. The new preliminary maps show FEMA thinks far more properties throughout the region are at risk of flooding. FEMA also says many of those properties already in flood zones should be raised even higher to avoid future damage. FEMA rushed to release the maps to ensure property owners had the data as they start to rebuild, said Michael Byrne, FEMA’s coordinating officer for New York operations. “It’s the best science we’ve got. We certainly hope people will take it seriously,” Byrne said. But the maps won’t become final for as long as three years. And it’s up to local governments to decide if they want to require higher elevations before then. New York City requires “substantially” damaged properties to rebuild to the existing flood elevations. But in many cases that’s not as high as FEMA now recommends. Corigliano, owner of the Marina Cafe, said he’s not raising his restaurant. It would cost too much and take too long. “You’re probably talking about maybe two years of paperwork. You’re talking Army Corps of Engineers to sink piles and so on and so forth,” he said. There is no data yet on how many property owners who received a loan will actually rebuild and, of those, how many will raise their properties to withstand a future flood. Of the loans made in New York City, 83 percent went to a property in an area FEMA says it at risk of flooding, the data shows. In New Jersey 71 percent went to a proposed flood zone. The recipients The biggest loan approved as of mid-February was a $1.5 million loan to the Fairfield Beach Club, a private beach and tennis club on the shore of the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. FEMA has not yet released new maps for Connecticut, but the effects of Sandy certainly suggest the club is at risk. The club’s century-old wood buildings were badly damaged by surging waters including some that were shifted on their foundations, said Arthur McCain, a member of the club’s finance committee. McCain said the club will try to raise buildings to help protect them from a future flood. But there’s only so much the club can do. “If we really wanted to avoid future damage we’ve got to close the club and move inland two or three miles.” McCain said. Families have enjoyed the beach club since it opened in the late 1880’s, he added. And he said if the club were to close it would just leave a blighted piece of land. McCain also pointed out that the SBA money is a loan and the government will make money off the club, which also pays a considerable amount for flood insurance. The loans, however, can cost the government. The default rate on disaster home loans is about 10 percent and it’s about 20 percent for some business loans, according to the SBA. The administration estimates that it costs taxpayers 11-cents for every $1 dollar of disaster loans. “These loans do not come without risk to taxpayers,” said Pete Sepp, executive vice president for the National Taxpayers Union. “We need to have a policy that carefully considers whether rebuilding in flood prone areas makes sense and whether such building ought to be encouraged by government or at least abetted by government through the use of aid and loans.” But locals like Nicholas Dorman don’t want to leave their homes. Dorman, a fireman, bought his home in Staten Island in 2006. It was his first and has been home to his young family. The house is now leaning after he says the surge smashed boats against the property. He was approved for a $192,100 disaster loan from the SBA. He’s not sure it will be enough and hasn’t even thought about how high he might build. But he wants to find a way. “It meant everything to us. I had my pension in there. Everything I had into that house. To me it was gorgeous,” Dorman said. An earlier version of this story said FEMA had not yet completed new maps for many areas, including Long Island. That was incorrect. FEMA completed maps for Long Island in 2009. WNYC regrets the error.