FEMA Maps

Back on June 22, the Stockton Record wrote that San Joaquin Valley congressmen were calling for "more time" before FEMA release new flood plain maps for the San Joaquin River.

The agency this fall plans to release a preliminary flood map for San Joaquin County outlining areas it considers prone to flooding.

People living behind levees that do not pass muster could end up paying hundreds of dollars a year in flood insurance premiums. The last time FEMA released its flood maps in the mid-1990s, it cost $70 million to bring Stockton and the north county area into 100-year flood compliance.

Now that would not be good news for a lot of voters just before election day.

This was followed up by a story from Hank Shaw that noted

This round is different, however, because FEMA announced in August it would finally enforce laws already on the books requiring a stricter evaluation of levees that protect homes. Now a levee's internal construction will become more of a factor in evaluating its strength - bad news for Valley levees, many of which are essentially unengineered mounds of dirt.

Both Congress and the State Legislature playing politics with the funding of levee repairs and all efforts to put controls on building in the floodplains. Last year, the Record also noted that over 30,000 new homes have been built in the flood plain since the disasterous floods on 1997.

If I had the congressman of my choice, which I don't, I would want them to be pushing for more information, not less, for earlier release of information, not later and for protection of the residents of my district, not a cover-up for the developers who are putting everyone at risk.

Tags: CA-11, Richard Pombo, FEMA, flood plains, levees, levee repairs, Jerry McNerney