Midwest flood victims feel misled by feds
GULFPORT, Ill. (AP) - June 19, 2008 After all, local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that
the levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood, and FEMA
had agreed. In fact, some relieved homeowners dropped their flood
insurance, and others applied for permits to build new houses and
businesses.
Then on Tuesday, the worst happened: The levee burst and
Gulfport was submerged in 10 feet of water. Only 28 property owners
were insured against the damage.
"They all told us, `The levees are good. You can go ahead and
build,"' said Parks, who did not buy flood coverage because her
bank no longer required it. "We had so much confidence in those
levees."
Around the country, thousands of residents who relied on risk
maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency may unknowingly
face similar dangers.
"People put all their hopes in those levees, and when they do
fail, the damage is catastrophic," said Paul Osman, the National
Flood Insurance Program coordinator for Illinois. "New Orleans is
the epitome; a lot of those people didn't even realize they were in
a floodplain until the water was up to their roofs."
Mike Buckley, a FEMA deputy assistant administrator, said agency
officials encourage everyone to buy federal flood insurance and
have never claimed that levees eliminate the risk of flooding.
But now - amid the disastrous flooding across Iowa, Illinois and
Missouri - some policymakers are demanding the government come up
with more accurate, up-to-date flood-risk assessments, inform the
public better of the dangers, and require nearly all homeowners to
buy coverage if they live near dams or levees.
FEMA relies on outside engineers whose job is to certify whether
a levee can withstand a 100-year flood - that is, a flood so big
that it has only a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year.
If FEMA agrees with the certification, then the homes and
businesses protected by the levee are not considered to be in a
floodplain. That means homeowners living there do not have to buy
federal flood insurance.
However, some FEMA floodplain maps are 20 years old and
seriously outdated, based on old evaluations of levees and river
conditions.
FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program,
has spent almost $1 billion since 2003 so far to modernize its
maps, which Buckley said are for insurance purposes, not to
indicate people are safe.
Moreover, some of this year's floods exceeded the 100-year
benchmark, including Gulfport's flood, which was a 500-year deluge,
the Army Corps of Engineers said.
FEMA said it is up to Congress to decide whether everyone whose
home could be swamped by a breach of a levee or dam should be
required to buy flood insurance.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has sponsored a bill passed by
the Senate that would require just that. It would also require FEMA
to assess the risks more accurately.
Homeowners and businesses behind levees or downstream of dams
"are often unaware of the risks to their properties" and so don't
buy flood insurance, Dodd said.
"When these manmade structures fail, the effects can be
dangerous and devastating," he said in a statement. "With no
insurance coverage, the process of rebuilding their homes and their
lives becomes tremendously difficult for families and businesses."
Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State
Floodplain Managers, said FEMA should not wait for Congress. But he
said he doubts the agency will act on its own, because the move
would be too politically unpopular.
Many residents and communities strongly resist attempts to force
them to buy coverage because of the cost and the belief that it
will hurt economic development, said Doug Bellomo, director of
FEMA's risk analysis division.
"From our perspective, while flood insurance isn't free, it is
a way of hedging your investment in property against a risk we have
pretty good understanding of," Bellomo said. "There's not a
question of if you should buy fire insurance, but there is a lot of
aversion to flood insurance."
Communities protected by the 52-mile Sny levee, along the
Mississippi River near Quincy, Ill., worked hard to persuade FEMA
in 2004 to accredit the levee, rebuilt after failing in 1993, as
providing protection against a 100-year flood. FEMA relented, even
though the decision was based on 1979 data and an unpublished Army
Corps of Engineering study indicated that elevations in the river
had risen substantially. Now, the Sny is in danger of failing and
many people no longer have flood insurance.
Parks said she was told that flood insurance on her Gulfport
home would cost more than $1,000 a year. But Osman said that in
Illinois, policies average $400 a year for those in floodplains and
$120 to $317 for people like Parks who are not in a designated
floodplain.
At least 22 levees in the three flood-stricken states already
have been topped by floodwaters this week, the Corps said. Dozens
more could overflow.
In Hull - a town of about 500 that was inundated in the 1993
flood but is now deemed protected by the Sny - only 44 homeowners
still have flood insurance, Osman said.
Jerry Rodhouse, who lives on a 1,200-acre farm near Pleasant
Hill, Ill., said if the nearby levee breaks, the land in that part
of the Sny drainage system will be under as much as 9 feet of
water. But he said he is confident the levee will hold.
"We have the finest levees on the Mississippi River north of
St. Louis," he said. "We've been working since 1872 to protect
our land."
It is unclear what, if anything, the uninsured Parks would get
in government disaster relief. "We're hoping to rebuild, but it
depends what FEMA says and how much we get," said Parks, who is
staying with her husband in a horse trailer.
Gulfport building and zoning inspector John Carrier said the
flood is a blow to the town that was told it was out of harm's way.
"Everybody was happy; that meant the village could build and
thrive," he said. "People can decide if they want to take that
risk or not and rebuild. But I don't know what happens now."
--
Tammy Webber reported from Chicago. Associated Press reporter
Deanna Bellandi contributed to this story from Pleasant Hill, Ill.
---
On the Net:
Federal Emergency Management Agency: http://www.fema.gov