Where's the flood?

ou look outside the window of your home. You see the thick, gray clouds approaching from the west.

You hear the light thunder and then the hiss of raindrops splashing against the rooftop. Minutes later, you notice Mother Nature's crescendo as the hiss builds to a roar. Already, water is violently rushing through the nearby storm ditch.

It's a stormy May afternoon in Cape Girardeau. Do you know where your flood plain is?

If you don't, you're not alone. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a pretty good idea now of how high the water might go in a 100-year flash flood in Cape Girardeau. In Jackson, a new study has unveiled mistakes in the old flood plain maps. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn't know this, at least not yet.

This means there are property owners out there paying unnecessary flood insurance. And there might be some who aren't paying for flood insurance, but soon may be required to buy it.

The cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson are both plugging through the process of making new federal maps, and both are close to handing over their findings to FEMA.

Cape's progress

In Cape Girardeau, the FEMA flood maps date back to 1980. Lending organizations use the FEMA flood maps determine whether potential homeowners must purchase flood insurance.

The 1980 maps weren't that old when the city of Cape Girardeau began planning an overhaul on its storm-water system in the mid-1980s. But 23 years and $40 million later -- the amount spent on the Cape LaCroix Creek/Walker Branch flood control project -- the map is obsolete. Once the system was completed last fall when the final piece -- a 150-acre detention basin on the northwest edge of the city -- was in place, the Corps of Engineers began collecting information for the new maps, which will affect the Cape La Croix watershed.

Ron Dieckmann, a hydraulic engineer with the Corps, said contracted firm Horner & Shifrin of St. Louis will hand over the new Cape Girardeau map information to him in January.

Dieckmannsaid the flood plain in the Town Plaza area -- which was devastated with $56 million in damage in a 1986 flood -- will be several feet lower than previous profiles, and it appears that many of the businesses will be removed from the 100-year flood plain.

"That's a great benefit to the business owners here," said Scott Rhodes, the vice president of Plaza Tire. "For Plaza Tire and the other properties owned by the Rhodes group, that will save about $10,000 a year."

However, Cape Girardeau's flood plain administrator, Bill Vaughn, is quick to point out that 30 percent of the damage caused by flooding occurs outside the flooding hazard area, so dropping coverage can be risky.

"Water and gravity can generate forces that are unbelievable," Vaughn said.

Officials don't know when FEMA will formally accept Cape Girardeau's new maps. The process can take up to 24 months.

Vaughn said the study is included in the $40 million storm-water project that was paid for, in part, by a quarter-cent sales tax passed in 1988. He said he didn't immediately know how much the study cost.

Neighboring Jackson is starting from scratch instead of basing its new maps on the ones done by the Corps of Engineers in the late 1970s.

On Monday night, the board of aldermen heard a report from Koehler Engineering, which has spent the last two years putting together information on Jackson's flood plains. Koehler is putting the finishing touches on Jackson's new maps and, within the next few weeks, Koehler will hand over the data to FEMA.

Chris Koehler said Jackson's project is greater in scope than Cape Girardeau's.

The detailed and technologically driven study is quite expensive and the reason Cape Girardeau decided not to start from scratch with a new topographical survey and other work. Cape Girardeau will use an amended version of the old FEMA map to show the difference flood control measures have made.

In Jackson's case, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Corps of Engineers have split a $180,000 bill for the complete flood plain study.

Koehler uncovered some major errors in the old maps, especially in the area of Rocky Branch, and said that several residents will be removed from the 100-year flood plain. He also said that, because of the growth and increase in amount of hard surfaces in and around Jackson, that some residents may find themselves inside the official flood plain in the near future.

A long process

FEMA's map-adoption process is a long one for a number of reasons, said Buck Katt, deputy director of the State Emergency Management Administration.

Once the city has collected the information, Katt said, the FEMA regional office in Kansas City takes a look at the study. The FEMA officials take a general look at the data and report back to the engineers if something obvious is missing.

From there, the information goes to the national headquarters in Washington. The FEMA officials hand over the study to an engineering firm that nitpicks the details.

Because of a $250 million FEMA effort to redo maps across the nation, there is often a logjam at the national level, especially since only one firm, Miami-based PBS&J, is contracted to do the work.

"Everything has to be looked at deliberately," Katt said, because there is a potential for liability if the maps are wrong and a new facility gets flooded.

While the process slogs on, many home and business owners may be paying for insurance they aren't required to pay.

Residents may apply for a Letter of Map Amendment with the city. For a LOMA to be accepted, the property owner must provide proof that the land has not been altered and it is higher in elevation than the 100-year flood plain.

Builders may apply for a Letter of Map Revision. There are different kinds of LOMRs, but the most common is based on fill. When a LOMR is approved, the property is taken out of the flood plain.

Both cases require new topographical survey data, which can be expensive, engineer Koehler said. In some cases it might be better to wait for an amended FEMA map and avoid survey costs, he said.

Engineers say flood plain maps should be updated often, but how often depends on the city's growth.

"For some communities, a 1970 map might still be good if there has been no annexations or no development," Katt said. "As fast as some communities are growing, the new maps may be outdated in five years."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635