Live near the shore? You may want to check out FEMA’s new flood-zone map
By David Harry
Staff Writer
The coastal section of South Portland where Cloyster and Bay roads dip toward Casco Bay features manicured lawns and spacious homes perched above rocky shoreline.
Because of revisions in mapping, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency consider these areas flood prone. South Portland and Cape Elizabeth officials are urging shoreline residents to visit the city planning office to learn how changes may affect them.
The changes are the result of revisions created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and could take effect next June, said David Mendelsohn, who coordinated the map monitorization program for the FEMA Region 1 office in Boston.
The new maps will require homeowners with mortgages now in flood or wave velocity zones to get flood insurance and will limit renovation and expansion plans they may have.
Mendelsohn said the last regional flood maps were created about 26 years ago and FEMA has spent the last six years creating revisions throughout the country. The new maps have expanded areas where the agency has determined there is a 1 percent annual chance of flooding.
Enhanced imaging allows the maps to show land contours at intervals of two feet instead of 10. The more specific imaging has resulted in an increase in areas the agency lists as having a 1 percent chance of annual flooding, Mendelsohn said.
Some of the revisions along coastlines are dramatic. At the city planning office on E Street, Stephen Puleo, a community planner, unfurled maps showing an increase in elevation of flood zones from 16 to 41 feet in some sections of the city shoreline.
Puleo said another significant change in the mapping is the creation of velocity zones where damage may occur from waves more than three feet high.
The combination of expanded flood zones and potential wave damage areas can be contested by towns and residents, and efforts to have the agency reconsider the maps using new or more detailed information are already underway in Portland, said Bob Gerber, a vice president of Sebago Technics.
In Cumberland County, a 90-day appeal period began Aug. 20 and extends until Nov. 18. The agency expects to open a similar appeal period for York County later this month, Mendelsohn said.
Mendelsohn warned the agency will only consider challenges disputing findings based on scientific or technical data, as opposed to anecdotal claims that areas have not been flooded in the past.
It is not so much the new flood zone elevations and the wave velocity zones Gerber said are flawed. He is contesting the maps for Portland officials because the findings could prohibit all development in the waterfront area on the assumption that storm waves could flow into the harbor unimpeded by outlying islands and other obstructions.
Gerber said he is creating new wave models to submit to the agency that are more intricate than ones FEMA officials created.
Puleo said the designation appeared to have a greater impact on residential property than commercial property in South Portland.
Bruce Smith, Cape Elizabeth Code Enforcement Officer, said he has determined about a dozen zones along the shoreline that do not appear to be accurate.
The affected areas were already in a velocity zone, Smith said, and he disagrees with the increased elevation of the zones.
“I don’t think they did enough research,” Smith said.
Smith said the agency has not considered the history of the areas affected by new maps and he knew of only two homes in Cape Elizabeth to have suffered flood damage more than once.
Buying flood insurance now will be less expensive than when the maps take effect, Mendelsohn said, and insurance premiums cannot be raised once a home is placed in the new zones.
When a home is sold, the premiums cannot be raised to flood zone rates, Mendolsohn said.
Renovating or expanding a home will become more difficult, Smith said. The new zones automatically place affected homes into shoreline zoning areas governed by laws conforming with state, as opposed to local regulations.
One rule requires remodeling that would increase a home’s value by more than 50 percent to raise the new construction two feet above the flood line and prohibit hooking up utilities on the bottom floor.
“You could end up losing your basement for any practical purposes,” Smith said.
Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219
Staff Writer
The coastal section of South Portland where Cloyster and Bay roads dip toward Casco Bay features manicured lawns and spacious homes perched above rocky shoreline.
Because of revisions in mapping, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency consider these areas flood prone. South Portland and Cape Elizabeth officials are urging shoreline residents to visit the city planning office to learn how changes may affect them.
The changes are the result of revisions created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and could take effect next June, said David Mendelsohn, who coordinated the map monitorization program for the FEMA Region 1 office in Boston.
The new maps will require homeowners with mortgages now in flood or wave velocity zones to get flood insurance and will limit renovation and expansion plans they may have.
Mendelsohn said the last regional flood maps were created about 26 years ago and FEMA has spent the last six years creating revisions throughout the country. The new maps have expanded areas where the agency has determined there is a 1 percent annual chance of flooding.
Enhanced imaging allows the maps to show land contours at intervals of two feet instead of 10. The more specific imaging has resulted in an increase in areas the agency lists as having a 1 percent chance of annual flooding, Mendelsohn said.
Some of the revisions along coastlines are dramatic. At the city planning office on E Street, Stephen Puleo, a community planner, unfurled maps showing an increase in elevation of flood zones from 16 to 41 feet in some sections of the city shoreline.
Puleo said another significant change in the mapping is the creation of velocity zones where damage may occur from waves more than three feet high.
The combination of expanded flood zones and potential wave damage areas can be contested by towns and residents, and efforts to have the agency reconsider the maps using new or more detailed information are already underway in Portland, said Bob Gerber, a vice president of Sebago Technics.
In Cumberland County, a 90-day appeal period began Aug. 20 and extends until Nov. 18. The agency expects to open a similar appeal period for York County later this month, Mendelsohn said.
Mendelsohn warned the agency will only consider challenges disputing findings based on scientific or technical data, as opposed to anecdotal claims that areas have not been flooded in the past.
It is not so much the new flood zone elevations and the wave velocity zones Gerber said are flawed. He is contesting the maps for Portland officials because the findings could prohibit all development in the waterfront area on the assumption that storm waves could flow into the harbor unimpeded by outlying islands and other obstructions.
Gerber said he is creating new wave models to submit to the agency that are more intricate than ones FEMA officials created.
Puleo said the designation appeared to have a greater impact on residential property than commercial property in South Portland.
Bruce Smith, Cape Elizabeth Code Enforcement Officer, said he has determined about a dozen zones along the shoreline that do not appear to be accurate.
The affected areas were already in a velocity zone, Smith said, and he disagrees with the increased elevation of the zones.
“I don’t think they did enough research,” Smith said.
Smith said the agency has not considered the history of the areas affected by new maps and he knew of only two homes in Cape Elizabeth to have suffered flood damage more than once.
Buying flood insurance now will be less expensive than when the maps take effect, Mendelsohn said, and insurance premiums cannot be raised once a home is placed in the new zones.
When a home is sold, the premiums cannot be raised to flood zone rates, Mendolsohn said.
Renovating or expanding a home will become more difficult, Smith said. The new zones automatically place affected homes into shoreline zoning areas governed by laws conforming with state, as opposed to local regulations.
One rule requires remodeling that would increase a home’s value by more than 50 percent to raise the new construction two feet above the flood line and prohibit hooking up utilities on the bottom floor.
“You could end up losing your basement for any practical purposes,” Smith said.
Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219
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