Wrightsville Beach to appeal FEMA flood maps

Sept. 11--WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH -- Wrightsville Beach will appeal Harbor Island's flood zone designation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a move officials hope will save residents thousands on flood insurance.

At its meeting Thursday, the town board of aldermen voted unanimously to appeal preliminary flood maps prepared by the N.C. Flood Risk Information System and FEMA. The maps, released last fall, designated parts of Harbor Island as VE zones, meaning they're at a high risk for flooding.

But a review by Charleston, S.C.-based engineering firm Applied Technology & Management found that several parts of the island should be reclassified to the lower-risk AE designation.

The town estimates that appealing the preliminary maps to FEMA will cost $12,400. So far, Wrightsville Beach has paid $20,563 to AT&M out of an estimated total review cost of $24,700, plus $4,500 for survey work.

An area's designation determines how much residents pay for flood insurance. For Harbor Island residents, that amount could be thousands of dollars more than for people in lower-risk areas.

Heath Hansell, a coastal engineer with AT&M, told the board Thursday FEMA used incomplete data to designate Harbor Island, not taking into account things like buildings and vegetation, which can block waves during a flood.

"Overall, the new maps from FEMA are better for a lot of areas -- some not," he said. "They had some discrepancies in their original processing of the topography, and the topography really affects what the zones end up at the end of the modeling."

For instance, when creating its own model of Harbor Island, AT&M found that FEMA's map made parts of Causeway Drive appear an average of 1.25 feet lower than they actually are. The engineering firm's model made the same properties appear an average of 0.21 feet higher than they are.

According to the model, areas that should be reclassified to lower-risk AE designations include North Channel and Coral drives; Island, South Channel and Live Oak drives; Pelican Drive; Causeway Drive; and the area around Keel and Marina streets.

"Hopefully, we'll get y'all cheap insurance," Hansell said during the meeting, "Which is what we're here for, right?"

"Cheaper," corrected someone in the audience, to laughter.

Town Manager Tim Owens said FEMA's 90-day appeal process begins at the end of October. He anticipated that, if approved, the updated maps would not go into effect until late 2016 or early 2017, meaning residents will have the same flood insurance rates for at least another year.

Contact Cammie Bellamy at Cammie.Bellamy@StarNewsOnline.com or 910-343-2339.

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