Salina levee certified, new floodplain maps on the horizon

Dec. 29--On Nov. 2, Salina officials were notified that the city's 21-mile system of levees had passed a hurdle that should save nearly every property owner in the city from having to purchase flood insurance.

On that day, officials were notified that the flood-control levee had been certified by FEMA, which had declassified all levees in the United States following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the collapse of the levees protecting New Orleans.

"If we would have failed certification, even though the levees would physically still be there and provide some protection, from a FEMA insurance standpoint, they would be perceived as though they didn't exist, providing no protection," said Mike Schrage, Salina's deputy city manager.

Salina residents living at Marymount Properties on East Iron Avenue and in homes in the area referred to as "The Hill" don't have to worry about flooding. But most of the rest of the city is in a 100-year floodplain. The only protection is the levee, constructed in the late 1950s and finished in 1961.

In conjunction with the levee certification, the city is preparing to release a new floodplain map, updating maps dating to 1986.

"Anyone that is protected by the levee only has to deal with the water that falls inside the city," said City Engineer Dan Stack.

The new map will be made available to the public in February, and there will be time for review and comments.

An appeal period is scheduled for September through December. The map will become official in fall 2018.

The new map will have areas in dark blue to indicate the floodplain; areas in gold indicating they're outside the floodplain, and areas in gold with blue stripes indicating they're in the floodplain but protected by the levee.

Lots of work on levees

Since the levees were declassified, Stack said the city has spent $187,092.46 on repairs. Also, Amec was hired, at a cost of $580,000, to help with the certification.

The height of the levee was increased west of North Ninth Street at Thomas Park and north and south of State Street on the west side of Salina.

"We were talking about tenths of an inch in a few places but we added a foot at each intersection," Stack said.

If the levee had not been certified, Andrew said, 80 to 90 percent of the city would have been in the floodplain, Andrew said.

According to FEMA, the average flood insurance policy costs the homeowner $700 a year.

Andrew said that while the new map will not bring all of the city out of the floodplain, it will be more accurate than previous maps.

"There are some people who are anxious for the new map to be out, to get adopted, because it is beneficial to them," Andrew said.

"There are some that are concerned because it may not be helpful," Stack said.

New map more accurate

Andrew said some areas that weren't in the floodplain on the 1986 map are in the floodplain on the new map.

"Salina intentionally brought in Amec as consultants and vetted the map to make sure that it is accurate," Schrage said.

"They used the data the federal government was gathering rather than us incurring the expense of getting our own data. They really helped guide us through it in terms of timeline, responses, accuracy."

Salina went through a similar process in 2010, but that draft of maps was not accurate and was never officially adopted.

The current Salina maps were challenged by more than 2,000 property owners, who protested having their properties classified as being in the floodplain and received letters of map amendment.

This time, Stack said, Amec used detailed aerial photographs to get accurate data, which was paid for by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"Because of the work they were doing with the (Salina) levee, they were much more familiar with the local conditions," Andrew said.

Work still continues

"We needed precise elevations," Stack said. "More precise then the normal city of a foot or two. You can get away with that in some cities. Not here."

Still, there will be issues and things to take into account.

An example is a 9.23-acre tract on the east side of Prairie Lane, north of Crawford Street, recently rezoned from agriculture to single-family residential. Housing is planned on the tract.

"Historically there was a stream that went across Crawford and meandered around through that property," Andrew said. "What the owners did was construct a concrete-lined ditch that channelized the meandering stream and confined the 100-year flood to that ditch."

When data was collected on that area the ditch had not been constructed.

"Their response was, 'That's the kind of thing we want you to bring to our attention and we can get that rectified before the maps go public.' Those are things we are working on internally with us as a staff and Amec," Andrew said.

-- Reporter Tim Horan can be reached at 822-1422 or by email at thoran@salina.com.

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