The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Flood relief
Published 7/1/2009 in Commentary : Editorial
It's no surprise that a study of information used in controversial, proposed flood plain map changes for Finney County has revealed a number of errors.
The challenge remains in convincing state officials to re-evaluate the proposed changes and bring relief to a community where property owners can ill afford the burden of additional flood plain insurance.
News that the Federal Emergency Management Agency looked to add drainage ditches to local flood insurance rates maps — and in a community long plagued by drought, no less — seemed ludicrous at best.
Initial appeals removed many properties. But with more than 1,800 Garden City and Finney County properties still affected, local officials knew the onus was on them to prove the proposal was way off base.
A $23,000 study seeking errors was a good start.
The study turned up errors in drawing the flood plain maps that, amazingly, included using a mean annual precipitation of 22 inches for Ford County, rather than the mean annual precipitation of 19 inches for Finney County.
That's inexcusable. If they can't get the county right, how can we expect any of the information to be accurate and useful?
We can't, which is why there's cause to be encouraged as city and county officials press on in their quest to negate the proposed flood plain changes.
Other errors found proved the information gathered was little more than a "cut-and-paste exercise," with details not applicable to Finney County or Garden City -- and all prime examples of the bureaucratic blunders we've come to expect from FEMA in particular.
Such carelessness has to catch the attention of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, which should exercise its ability to change or stop the map update before the Sept. 25 deadline city and county commissioners have to decide whether to adopt the changes.
While it's good to have proof that the proposed flood plain map changes are flawed, this community shouldn't have been stuck with commissioning its own study to find the errors.
But that's at least easier to stomach knowing the effort could be paying off many times over in helping to make the proposed changes and financial toll they'd deliver just a bad memory.
Do you think the study will help the city and county get properties removed from the flood plain? Talk about it at SWKTalk.com.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
