Plain wrong

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has no excuse for taking another two years to change the obsolete flood-plain maps that dictate who must have federal flood insurance near Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch in Cape Girardeau.

The $40 million Cape Girardeau flood control project began 11 years ago in the wake of flash flooding that damaged much of the commercial district along Kingshighway. The waterways were channeled, and a dry detention reservoir was built.

The city celebrated the end of the project in April, a month after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers applied to FEMA for a change in the maps. But FEMA officials said the application did not include complete information.

The project has removed hundreds of properties from the flood plain. But these homeowners and businesses continue paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year for federal flood insurance they no longer need.

The flood-plain maps in the city haven't been changed in 24 years. FEMA plans to provide preliminary flood-plain maps for Cape Girardeau County a year from now, but the final maps aren't scheduled to go into effect for another two years.

The Greater Cape Girardeau Area Benevolent Association will ask U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and both U.S. senators to see if the process can be expedited. Surely a well-document project that took 11 years to build should not have to wait another two years to receive the approval these landowners seek.