FEMA has the responsibility to provide new elevation maps and
advisories for use in determining eligibility for national programs
like flood insurance and the federally funded state housing recovery
plan. Like everything else this agency did post-K this activity was late and surrounded by controversy.
Originally scheduled for delivery in January, the maps were postponed until
March 15th and then the end of March. On March 28 word emerged that the
maps would not be ready until "summer."
Then in April 2006 the Corps announced that it could not certify the
current levees but would spend an additional $4.1 billion (subject to
Congressional authorization) to build them to the level necessary to
protect against a 100 year storm by 2010. With this bit of background,
FEMA issued a new advisory for construction and repair of substantially
damaged buildings within New Orleans (Orleans only, Jefferson and other parishes followed).
The advisory stated that homes in a levee protected floodplain should
be built so that the lowest horizontal member is at or above the higher
of a) the base flood elevation on the current insurance rate
flood map or b) the highest adjacent ground elevation plus 3 feet.
On June 14 without any public notice
the maps were published online.
People are wondering just where the 3 feet advisory originated. Is it
arbitrary?Also would you have to elevate in areas that are
outside the floodplain (Zone B)?
"For areas in the Parish located within existing levees, FEMA has determined that eventual levee certification is likely. In the levee areas of Sub-Basins “a” to “h” of the Parish (see Figure 1), FEMA recommends the following: new construction and substantially damaged homes and businesses within a designated FEMA floodplain should be elevated to either the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) shown on the current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) or at least 3 feet above the highest adjacent existing ground elevation at the building site, whichever is higher; and new construction and substantially damaged homes and businesses not located in a designated FEMA floodplain should be elevated at least 3 feet above the highest adjacent existing ground elevation at the building site."
In terms of legal force the FEMA
recommendations are just recommendations, but they do have teeth.
Eligibility for federal programs including CDBG and ICC grants or flood
insurance depends on compliance. Community level programs like repair
of roads and bridges and public utilities requires citywide adoption of
the recommendation in building codes. Some commuinties delayed adoption
of the standards until the last possible moment while encouraging
citizens to get building permits so they would be grandfathered under
the old standard.