FEMA approves revised flood map for Shamokin, saves money for property owners

SHAMOKIN — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved Shamokin's revised flood insurance map prepared by an engineering firm, Betsy Kramer, SEDA-COG program manager for community revitalization, told Shamokin City Council on Monday evening.

The revised map replaces the new map FEMA devised in 2019 that would have nearly quadrupled the current Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) in the city, meaning more residents and businesses would have had to pay for flood insurance.

Property owners must buy federal flood insurance if their property is in a high-risk flood area and they have a federally regulated or insured mortgage. Other lenders also may require it. The insurance also is a requirement to receive disaster assistance.

Kramer said FEMA changed Shamokin's map as part of a remapping of the entire Susquehanna River Valley.

Shamokin was able to get a revised map, thanks to a $130,000 grant approved by the state Department of Community and Economic Development in 2021 as part of the Act 147 exit plan.

With the funding, the Greenman-Pedersen Inc. (GPI) engineering firm conducted a hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) study to reevaluate Shamokin's flood zone. H&H is the study of the movement of water, including the volume and rate of flow as it moves through a watershed, basin, channel or man-made structure.

Kramer said FEMA released the new FIRM on Sept. 30, and it was essentially the same map that GPI created and was presented to FEMA.

"GPI came up with a new map smaller than what FEMA did," Kramer said. "It took a couple of years. We just were notified about a week ago."

Councilman Mike Duganitz said that would save a lot of money for property owners.

Kramer said the revised map still is going to change from what it is currently, but the flood zone is significantly smaller.

FEMA's original map added 234 residential and commercial structures to Shamokin's 100-year flood zone, which would have quadrupled the impacted area in the city, including areas that haven't seen flooding in recent years.

Flood insurance on those properties would be cost-prohibitive for most of the affected residents, according to previous reports from The News-Item.

Kramer said that FEMA used a Light Detection and Ranging tool — or LiDAR — to scan the area to map the land's surface.

SEDA-COG project manager Ali Cassidy said at a meeting with residents earlier this year that LiDAR doesn't compute how deep bodies of water are and FEMA didn't take into consideration the underground mine pools throughout the area when compiling information for its new flood map.

Bridges were added to the formula model used to create the flood maps, but the bridges' angles and sizes were calculated incorrectly.

The map will become official in 2026 and go into effect after FEMA issues a final letter to the City of Shamokin, Cassidy said.