WASHINGTON
– Nearly four
years after the
devastation of
Hurricane
Katrina,
researchers
called on the
federal
government to
upgrade its
flood maps,
arguing that the
effort could
save lives as
well as stem
losses to
properties and
businesses.
The Federal
Emergency
Management
Agency's flood
insurance rate
maps are used to
set flood
insurance rates,
regulate
development in
flood plains,
and let people
know about the
risk they face.
FEMA is wrapping
up a five-year
map
modernization
plan that had
led to digital
flood maps for
92 percent of
the continental
U.S. population,
the National
Research Council
said. But even
after $1 billion
has been spent
on the effort,
only 21 percent
of the
population has
maps which meet
all of FEMA's
data quality
standards, said
the study, which
was requested by
FEMA and the
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration.
The report said
that FEMA often
produces maps
from the U.S.
Geological
Survey National
Elevation
Dataset, but
that more
accurate maps
are available
using lidar,
which measures
elevation from
lasers on
aircraft.
Among its
recommendations,
the report calls
on FEMA to
increase its
collaboration
with federal,
state and local
agencies to
acquire
high-resolution,
high-accuracy
topographic
data.
"FEMA has
recently begun
to support
collection of
lidar data along
the Gulf Coast,
but lidar data
coverage over
most inland
areas is still
sparse," the
report says.
Sen. Mary
Landrieu, D-La.,
who chairs the
Senate Homeland
Security and
Governmental
Affairs
subcommittee on
disaster
recovery, called
FEMA's upgrade
of its flood
maps "welcome,
but long
overdue."
"However, even
with a
modernized plan,
FEMA may
continue to fail
Gulf Coast
residents if the
agency does not
seek input from
local
residents," she
said in a
statement
provided to The
Associated
Press. "An
important part
of the process
is local
participation to
ensure the maps
are accurate and
represent the
true topography
of the land.
Knowledge of the
local terrain is
an essential
supplement to
the science used
to design new
flood maps."
In Louisiana,
FEMA's new maps
have triggered
complaints from
several parishes
that the
elevation data
put too many
towns in flood
zones —
guaranteeing
they'll never
rebuild and
recover from the
hurricanes of
2005 and 2008.
A FEMA
spokesman, Butch
Kinerney, said
the report
"validates a lot
of the things
we're doing, and
have done, and
gives us good
recommendations
for going
forward. We're
changing the way
we're looking at
maps."
In addition to
upgrading the
maps, the agency
is also helping
communities to
write plans to
prepare for all
sorts of
disasters,
including
floods, he said.
Asked if he
agreed that
better maps
could save lives
and property,
Kinerney said
that a lot
depends on how
local
communities
choose to use
the improved
information.
"If a community
adopts it, yeah,
I think there
are going to be
dramatic
effects," he
said. "If a
community
chooses not to
adopt it, it
could be for
naught."
The National
Research Council
is part of the
National
Academies, an
independent
organization
chartered by
Congress to
advise the
government on
scientific
matters.
