By Katie Nelson
HIGHLINE TIMES

A July 29 public meeting between the Burien community and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives addressed concerns regarding FEMA’s new flood mapping updates. These updates could change the amount of money charged for national flood insurance policies along the shoreline area.

“This is part of a nationwide effort to update the nation’s inventory of flood maps. It actually started two years ago … because one of the most prominent complaints that we got is that they were old and out of date,” said Mark Carey, mitigation division director of FEMA Region 10. Region 10 includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

In order to qualify for discounted insurance premiums from the National Flood Insurance Program, a city must submit flood maps to FEMA for approval, according to Jan Vogee, Burien’s floodplain manager.

“The National Flood Insurance Program is an affordable flood insurance program. In order for our residents to be eligible for that, we have to enforce the FEMA flood zones,” she said. “If we don’t do that, then our residents could be denied the ability to have flood insurance, and people would have to get it from someplace else that might not be as affordable.”

Originally, the city of Burien conducted and submitted its own study, which FEMA approved. The flood zones based on that study went into effect as of November 2011, Vogee says.

However, King County also submitted its own study of the city to FEMA. The county’s study, which includes all cities within its borders, is still going through the review process and a final decision on which flood map will be used will not be made until the appeal period ends in late August. Vogee believes the map drawn up by the city of Burien is better suited to the city’s needs.

“[I] feel it’s more inclusive, because it’s specific to Burien and not generic to the whole county,” she said. “If the mapping stays the way it is today, fewer people will be required to purchase flood insurance. If the King County study is approved, more people will be required to pay for flood insurance or have a study done to show they don’t need it.”

The process of determining whether a study is valid or not is very detailed, according to Carey.

“We have nationwide guidance and standards and engineering technical requirements that all of the flood insurance studies have to meet,” he said. Some of those requirements have to do with engineering, hydraulics, hydrology, topography, geometry, coastal issues and wave runoff.

Once the requirements are met, a flood study review meeting is held, during which FEMA representatives ensure that the maps align with what the community wants. This is the step the Burien maps have reached.

“Once the first draft map is produced, we would normally meet with the prospective community and whoever did the study to discuss what it means, to see if we’ve misspelled any street names or something needs to be fixed,” Carey said. “After that, it goes through yet another screening process, and then we move onto begin the process of preliminary final maps.”

The average insurance premium in Washington is approximately $825, according to Carey. King County has the highest community rating for flood protection, meaning citizens have a 45 percent discount on flood insurance compared to the rest of the state.

Michael Noakes, president of the Burien Marine Homeowners Association, is concerned about the changes that could be coming to the shoreline area.

“I’ve heard about it once or twice, but I’m very uninformed about it. Nobody has really contacted homeowners prior to this to indicate that FEMA was changing the way it is handling flood zones around here,” he said. “To some degree, if the city has decided it’s important to schedule this meeting, it’s probably because there is some meaningful risk to us.”