You would think if it floods you might as well get the ark out, Burt. Yet they’re paying 1,700 a year for flood insurance. She said the maps are tentatively scheduled to be adopted in March 2015 and effective fall 2015. Their home has not flooded in the decade they’ve lived there. If not, it goes to an independent scientific review board,” Schaefer said. “We review it and there are some processes depending on whether we can resolve it quickly. Kathy Schaefer, FEMA regional engineer, said the next hurdle in the map update process is resolving all of the appeals. “I attended the FEMA meetings and being an engineer, I just want to figure out why and get to the root of what they’re trying to accomplish,” he said. Costa clearly invested a lot of time and energy in this, which is hard to do for the average homeowner.”įor Costa, he simply couldn’t see the flooding potential that agency officials outlined on draft maps. “We believe this is a valid argument that should be evaluated,” Schwarz said. Larkspur City Manager Dan Schwarz said city staff reviewed Costa’s concerns and are happy to send them along for vetting by the federal agency. Appeals could also come from the other impacted areas of Belvedere, Mill Valley, Novato, San Rafael, Sausalito, Corte Madera, Tiburon and unincorporated county land. He submitted his appeal to Larkspur city officials, who will forward his concerns to FEMA per appeal instructions. They didn’t take into account these structures,” Costa said. “These large buildings will kind of act as a barrier. He said Redwood High School and other large structures block the wind and wave run-up onto residences and businesses. In addition, he said the study didn’t include existing buildings that shelter communities from wave action. He then looked at wind direction data during storms. “The predominant wind direction in Marin County is generally in a west to east direction.”Ĭosta, who is a civil engineer, obtained wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association for two buoys in Tiburon and Richmond. “They’re saying the winds are coming from the East Bay, pushing the wave action onto Marin County,” Costa said. He said the wind data was obtained from non-local sources, including Travis Air Force Base, Oakland Airport and San Francisco Airport. FEMA’s study suggests raising the base flood elevation, which represents the elevation to which floodwaters are anticipated to rise during an average flood, by 1 foot.Ĭosta said the agency’s study uses inaccurate wind direction to determine the generation of waves impacting the county’s eastern shoreline. In March, local governments received preliminary flood insurance rate maps based on the new data that proposes increases in base flood elevations for east Marin communities - ultimately increasing rates for people already in the flood zone and adding new parcels to the flood zone.Īfter attending a recent public meeting about the draft flood maps, Peter Costa wasn’t convinced FEMA’s data are entirely accurate. Homes and businesses in high-risk flood areas with mortgages from government-backed lenders are required to have flood insurance.A Larkspur man is protesting new flood maps that will lead to higher flood insurance rates for some Marin residents on the basis that the data used for the mapping update are faulty.įlood and wave data for Marin’s shorelines have been re-studied and updated as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s San Francisco Bay Area Coastal Study. The NFIP works with communities required to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations that help mitigate flooding effects.įlood insurance is available to anyone living in one of the almost 23,000 participating NFIP communities. The areas with the lowest chance of flooding are labeled with a C or X. The NFIP provides flood insurance to property owners, renters and businesses, and having this coverage helps them recover faster when floodwaters recede. Moderate flood zones are labeled with a B or X, and reflect a 0.2 annual chance of a flood (also considered a 500-year flood). Flood insurance is a separate policy that can cover buildings, the contents in a building, or both, so it is important to protect your most important financial assets - your home, your business, your possessions. Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is managed by the FEMA and is delivered to the public by a network of more than 50 insurance companies and the NFIP Direct.įloods can happen anywhere - just one inch of floodwater can cause up to $25,000 in damage.
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