Flood-prone areas being remapped in Bradford County [The Daily Review, Towanda, Pa.]

July 19--Flood-prone areas being remapped in Bradford County

Residents in flood zones may be required to get flood insurance

FEMA is revising the boundaries of areas in Bradford County where residents under certain circumstances must buy flood insurance, which will cause significant flood insurance rate increases for some homeowners, the solicitor for Bradford County said.

If a house were included in a so-called "Special Flood Hazard Area," which is the name for an area where flood insurance is required in order to qualify for a mortgage, a refinancing of a mortgage, or a home-equity loan, the homeowner might have to pay $2,000 or $3,000 annually for flood insurance, Bradford County Solicitor Jonathan Foster Sr. said.

FEMA has issued new, preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for Bradford County, which show the new, proposed Special Flood Hazard Areas, said David Thomason, director of external affairs for FEMA'sRegion 3.

A Special Flood Hazard Area is where a 100-year flood would occur, which is the worst flooding that would be expected in 100 years.

The Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which in Bradford County were last revised in the 1970s and 1980s, are being updated because there is now better technology to create them, said Jon Janowicz, a project engineer with FEMA.

"We did some new analysis and modeling" to better delineate the boundaries of the SFHAs, he said.

FEMA measured the lay of the land, or elevation contours, in Bradford County using lasers that were deployed from aircraft, and then did calculations to determine which areas would be under water if a 100-year flood would occur, said Ray Stolinas, Bradford County planning director. "It's the most accurate way we can do it (determine the location of SFHAs)," he said.

The locations of some SFHAs are also changing because the course of local creeks has shifted over the years, he said.

Appeal

The county has entered into a 90-day appeal period where homeowners or commercial property owners can appeal their inclusion in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), if they believe their building doesn't belong in one, according to FEMA.

However, a homeowner would need to provide technical evidence to back up his or her appeal, Foster said.

For example, if an SFHA was 750 feet above sea level, and a house that was 800 feet above sea level was included in the SFHA, the owner of the house would need to have a surveyor or engineer provide evidence showing that, due to the home's elevation, it does not belong in the SFHA, Foster said.

"If someone was inadvertently included (in a Special Flood Hazard Area), this is an opportunity to present improved scientific data to us (to show that they shouldn't have been included in the SFHA) or to present an error in any of the work we did" in determining where an SFHA should be located, FEMA engineer Janowicz said.

Appeals of some circumstances, such as the inclusion of a home in an SFHA that is at a higher elevation than the SFHA itself, can be initiated after the 90-day appeal period ends, but the requirement for flood insurance would exist until the appeal was approved, Thomason said.

In Bradford County, some areas have been added to the proposed SFHAs and other areas are no longer in an SFHA, Thomason said.

The following communities in Bradford County, which were previously not considered to be flood-prone, now have SFHAs: Alba, Canton, LeRaysville, New Albany, Rome and Troy boroughs, and Armenia, Canton, Columbia, Franklin, Herrick, Leroy, Litchfield, Monroe, Orwell, Overton, Pike, Rome, Smithfield, Springfield, Stevens, Tuscarora, and Warren townships, according to FEMA.

If your home is in an SFHA, you cannot get a mortgage or a home equity loan without flood insurance, said Katie Lipiecki, a project planner with FEMA. Nor could you refinance a mortgage, she said.

And if FEMA paid for a major repair of your home after it was damaged in flooding from Tropical Storm Lee, and you didn't get flood insurance even though you were placed this year in an SFHA, FEMA is not going to want to pay for further repairs to your home if it gets flooded again, Foster said.

Inclusion in a Special Flood Hazard Area can make homes difficult to sell, and can have a "devastating effect" on their property values, Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko said.

The changes to the boundaries of the SFHAs are proposed throughout Bradford County, according to information on the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps.

In Towanda, for example, some buildings along North Main Street, William Street, Main Street, and the downtown section of the Merrill Parkway were added to an SFHA.

Also in Towanda, some land along the Merrill Parkway that is in the vicinity of Chestnut Street was removed from an SFHA.

In the Wyalusing area, some land that is near the Wyalusing Creek was added to an SFHA.

The appeal period for Bradford County began on June 27 and runs through Sept. 24, Thomason said. Legal ads were run in several local newspapers announcing the appeal period, he said.

However, because the legal ads have not run yet in The Daily Review, for "those communities that said they preferred The Daily Review as their newspaper of record" the start date for the 90-day appeal period has been pushed back to August 8, 2013, Janowicz said.

FEMA will be sending a letter announcing the postponement to the municipal offices of the affected townships and boroughs, so property owners will be able to find out if their municipality's start date has been postponed by telephoning their municipal office, he said.

To find out if you are included in a proposed Special Flood Hazard Area, go to https://www.rampp-team.com/pa.htm, scroll down to "Bradford County," and click on "Bradford County, PA Flood Information Portal," Thomason said. "Bradford County, PA Flood Information Portal" is an interactive map that allows you to zoom in to your area of the county to see if you are in a proposed SFHA.

You can also find out if you are in a proposed SFHA by going to the Bradford County Office of Community Planning & Grants and asking to see a hard copy of the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map for your area or a digital copy of the preliminary FIRM.

You can also telephone your municipal office to find out who the flood plain administrator is for your municipality, and then ask the flood plain administrator to help you in determining if you are in an SFHA.

Still another way to find out if you are in a proposed SFHA is by calling, toll-free, 1-877-336-2627.

For more information on the 90-day appeal period, call 1-877-336-2627.

The projected date for when the FIRMs and SFHAs will be finalized is Feb. 18, 2014, Thomason said. The projected date for when the FIRMs and SFHAs will go into effect is Aug. 18, 2014, he said.

Flood insurance isn't just for people who are in SFHAs.

"We encourage anyone near a flood plain to get flood insurance," Lipiecki said. However, the flood insurance rate will be higher if someone is in an SFHA, according to FEMA.

Anybody in Bradford County would be eligible to purchase flood insurance, Bradford County Planning Director Ray Stolinas said.

Additional information about the preliminary FIRMs and SFHAs for Bradford County can be accessed by going to https://www.rampp-team.com/pa.htm and scrolling down to "Bradford County."

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: [email protected].

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