A bureaucratic tidal wave of sorts hit Waverly recently when the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed the city that new maps place 204 homes in a floodplain, or flood-prone area.
ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 6:00 pm
A bureaucratic tidal wave of sorts hit Waverly recently when the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed the city that new maps place 204 homes in a floodplain, or flood-prone area.
None of those homes was in the floodplain before, city officials say, and now homeowners face the prospect of buying expensive flood insurance.
“This caught us all kind of by surprise. No one expected something like this — this big of a change,” City Council member John Hestermann said.
Most of the impacted homes are in the northwest part of Waverly along the Ash Hollow Ditch. Twenty-six business properties also are affected but some had been in the floodplain before.
The Ash Hollow Ditch runs south of the town of Prairie Home, through Waverly and into Salt Creek. Longtime residents say flooding has occurred along the ditch in the past.
Hestermann said the floodplain changes do not mean homes and businesses will flood tomorrow and affected residents don’t have to rush out and buy flood insurance.
The new maps are only proposed changes to the flood plain and must be finalized by FEMA. Hestermann said the city and residents have 90 days to appeal once they receive an official letter from the federal agency.
Glenda Wood, the city’s zoning administrator/building inspector, already has sent a letter of her own, telling residents about the new maps and possible flood insurance requirements. She, too, was shocked by the extent of the floodplain revision.
Wood encouraged affected property owners to attend a Tuesday informational meeting. Meanwhile, city officials have hired a civil engineer with HWS Consulting Group Inc. to help gather information for possible appeals.
Property owners will need specific topographic maps or a certificate from a civil engineer to appeal any of the proposed changes, Wood said. Appeals have to be based on scientific, not anecdotal, information.
The new maps are the result of a nationwide floodplain remapping process undertaken by FEMA. The federal agency sent letters to counties and cities, asking them if they wanted to participate in a project to update their floodplain maps.
Ben Higgins, a senior engineer with the Lincoln Public Works and Utilities Department, said all of Lancaster County is being re-mapped with a $460,000 grant from FEMA.
A handful of watersheds in Lincoln already have been re-mapped: Salt Creek, Beal Slough, Southeast Upper Salt Creek, Cardwell Branch and Deadman's Run.
Higgins said the re-mapping done in Lincoln is separate from the Waverly re-mapping project. “We had nothing to do with changing those maps. It was done all through FEMA,” he said.
FEMA periodically updates floodplain maps. The last time it did so was in 2001 when the federal agency digitized topographic maps. The latest maps are the result of laser-mapping technology, which has a much higher degree of accuracy.
Higgins said the mapping process works both ways. In Lincoln’s case, more homes were taken out of the floodplain than were put in.
He noted that anyone in a flood plain who has a federally backed mortgage — and most mortgages are — will need to obtain flood insurance. Flood insurance typically costs $400 to $500 per year for $100,000 worth of coverage.
Said Hestermann about the proposed floodplain changes in Waverly: “It’s unfortunate. We’re still looking at what we can do … and the repercussions.”
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at (402) 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.