State's floodplain maps scheduled for update

Hurricane Floyd left parts of North Carolina submerged

By Dana Damico

August 17, 2000 Web posted at: 10:19 AM EDT (1419 GMT)

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Winston-Salem Journal) -- State officials announced plans yesterday to update floodplain maps throughout North Carolina in the wake of extensive flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd that showed many maps are woefully out of date.

The $61.5 million initiative would be the first of its kind in the country, said Eric Tolbert, the director of the state Division of Emergency Management.

''This is a very aggressive approach,'' Tolbert told a panel of legislative leaders yesterday. ''We're prepared to go. . . . Really nothing is standing in our way.''

Federal emergency-management officials have pledged $10 million to the project, and Tolbert said that state officials plan to ask for more. Legislators agreed yesterday to transfer $23.2 million from unspent Hurricane Floyd relief money for the initial phase of the project.

Floodplain maps for more than 320 municipalities are an average of 20 to 30 years old, Tolbert said. More than 200 municipalities have not been mapped at all. Extensive development in floodplains in central and Eastern North Carolina has changed the landscape of those areas and exacerbated flooding problems.

The five-year plan calls for updating maps in North Carolina's 17 river basins. Officials will use the new maps to guide redevelopment in areas affected by the flooding from Hurricane Floyd, as well as guide development in other flood-prone areas.

The new maps, which will be posted on the Internet, will also allow emergency-management officials to generate computer models to predict where flooding will occur during disasters.

''We will reduce the cost of future disasters,'' Tolbert said.

Damage from Hurricane Floyd totaled more than $6 billion. North Carolina appropriated $836 million in disaster-relief aid in addition to federal aid.

Mapping of three river basins is expected to be complete by June, the start of next year's hurricane season, and work on another three basins should be finished in two years.

Officials have not determined which three will be done first, but Tolbert said that such large basins as the Cape Fear River basin will take longer to do. Work will start this month.

State officials are working with NASA to map elevation levels in such cities as Centerville and Princeville with specially equipped planes that bounce radar off the ground.

Some legislators questioned the usefulness of the new maps in the absence of strict laws regulating development in flood-prone areas.

''How do you assure that the building is not going to continue?'' said Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, referring to what he called ''weak'' floodplain legislation recently passed by the General Assembly.

A law encourages municipalities to bar some development in the 100-year floodplain. But legislators stopped short of requiring houses and businesses to be built above the floodplain.

They also rejected a clause that would have penalized municipalities that do not comply with the new building standards.

Most North Carolina communities participate in the federal flood-insurance program, which permits structures to be built no lower than the 100-year flood elevation.

Legislators crafted the new law to encourage municipalities that do not have floodplain restrictions to adopt their own ordinances.

The new maps are expected to show in many cases that the floodplain level is higher than what was previously thought. That means that communities participating in the federal flood-insurance program -- and those that adopt the state's new standard -- would have to build structures at the higher elevation, Tolbert said. The changes would not affect flood-insurance rates, but construction costs for new buildings would increase, he said.

Officials expect the program to cost $900,000 a year to manage.

For more Local news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

AL, Birmingham, WBMA AL, Huntsville, WAAY FL, Orlando, WKMG FL, Tallahassee, WTXL FL, Tampa, Bay News 9 FL, Tampa, WFLA FL, Fort Myers/Naples, WINK FL, Jacksonville, WJXT FL, Miami, WPLG FL, Miami, WSVN GA, Atlanta, WGCL GA, Augusta, WJBF   GA, Augusta, WRDW GA, Columbus, WTVM GA, Macon, WGXA GA, Savannah, WSAV GA, Savannah, WTOC KY, Louisville, WHAS LA, New Orleans, WGNO LA, New Orleans, WWL MS, Columbus, WCBI NC, Charlotte, WBTV NC, Charlotte, WCCB   NC, Raleigh-Durham, WLFL SC, Charleston, WCIV SC, Charleston, WCSC SC, Columbia, WOLO SC, Greenville, WHNS SC, Myrtle Beach, WBTW TN, Chattanooga, WDEF TN, Chattanooga, WDSI TN, Knoxville, WATE TN, Nashville, WTVF VA, Norfolk, WTKR VA, Roanoke, WSLS