Flood maps worry some

New flood zone maps in Calaveras County are more detailed than predecessors and, officials and residents alike hope, more accurate.

The maps were unveiled in public meetings Wednesday night in Angels Camp and the previous evening in Valley Springs.

“The real intent of the maps is to let everyone know what their flood hazards are,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency engineer Kathleen Schaefer, in beginning Wednesday’s meeting.
   

But that the maps mean more residents must buy federal flood insurance, Schaefer noted, is what garners more public interest.

Flood insurance concerns are what drew Vallecito resident Sally Finch to the meeting. Finch is already required to purchase flood insurance at what she said is a cost of more than $1,000 a year — more than her homeowners’ insurance. Older maps wrongly place her home in a high-risk flood hazard area, she said, and she came to see if she can be removed from the new map.

“My house will never flood,” Finch said, noting a 100-year-old home next door has never been reached by flood waters.

Coyote Creek runs behind her home and flood waters in 1996 never came close, she pointed out to Schaefer and a team of consultants who toured several areas considered as high risk in Vallecito after Tuesday’s meeting.

Just having the engineers and mapping experts listen and examine her areas of concern encouraged Finch.

“I’m glad they’re taking a realistic look at it rather than just saying ‘There’s a creek there and you’re going to pay,’ ” she said.

The new maps are being created with a geographic information system program that improves upon earlier hard-to-update paper maps. The digital maps can be overlaid upon county parcel maps to determine what structures are in the high-risk areas. Calaveras County and city of Angels Camp will be responsible for notifying affected residents.

Schaefer said FEMA is looking for maximum community input in finalizing the maps.

“There may be things we can’t see due to the topography ... that the community knows just aren’t right,” she said.

The agency is looking for information such as where the high water mark was during major flooding in 2005 and 2006, Schaefer said.

The public can access the maps online at www.map9-m.com and they will soon be available at the Calaveras County and Angels Camp planning departments. FEMA will take comments received in the next two to three weeks into consideration for maps that will be produced in September. Once those maps are complete, a 30-day public review will begin. Finalized maps are expected to take effect in June 2010.

Homes in the high flood risk areas designated on the maps will come under requirements for flood insurance if homeowners have federally-backed mortgages.

For more information, call the Calaveras County Planning Department at 754-6394.