They’re also comparing the results against survey data from bridges and culverts and from flood data and starting to make comparisons to 2019’s events. That allows water flows to be analyzed across a surface and also takes into account elevation. The flood maps are being measured in what is called 2D, FEMA said. Digital mapping technology called Lidar - or light detection and ranging - is used to create high-resolution digital elevation models. (Matt Gade / Republic)ĭavison County’s floodplain maps were last updated in 2012, and new technology will be a big part of this upgrade, as well. "It is an incredibly long process, but that’s why we want you to let us know if it looks like what you experience on the ground,” said Margaret Doherty, who works on mitigation for FEMA Region 8.Īt center, Stephanie DiBetitto, a Floodplain Management and Insurance Manager for FEMA Region 8, talks about floodplains during a Davison County Flood Risk Review meeting on Wednesday at the Davison County Fairgrounds. Wednesday’s meeting essentially was the midpoint of a process that dates back to initial meetings in 2016, and the final issuance of these maps won’t occur until at least 2022. Similar meetings are taking place in counties along the James River Valley from north to south, including the area counties of Sanborn, Hanson and Hutchinson. The maps are important as they can impact flood insurance costs and which properties may be required to have it for home lending. The meeting at the Davison County Fairgrounds in Mitchell reviewedĪnd the draft mapping results, as well as the next steps in updating the FEMA floodplain maps. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Region 8 office in Denver led a handful of local leaders in what is called a flood risk review. He says officials updating the maps need time for appeals to resolve challenger.On the heels of extensive flooding in 2019 and looking at a high likelihood of flooding in 2020, a discussion about floodplains in Davison County felt timely on Wednesday, even if it’s been in the works for years. Sean McNabb is a risk map analyst with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “ didn’t make economic sense, so there’s a lot of that type of development that is just waiting.”īuilders have to wait one more year before the classifications change. “All the infrastructure is essentially there, but they know that if they were to move forward before the maps were updated they would have had to significantly raise that land to get future buildings out of the floodplain,” Cotter says. On the commercial side, Public Works Director Mark Cotter says developers consider infilling open spaces in town instead of sprawling along the edge of Sioux Falls. A smaller area at risk of flooding means some of those homeowners can opt out of flood insurance if they choose. People who have mortgages on property that’s part of a floodplain are forced to buy flood insurance. SDPB Sean McNabb, Mark Cotter, and Mayor Mike Huether listen as Councilor Kermit Staggers discusses the levee system upgrades. But before that, we had 2,200 properties in the floodplain,” Staggers says. “We made a wise decision 14 years ago to go with the higher levees, because now it’s estimated with the 2016 flood map 500 properties will remain in the floodplain. Kermit Staggers is a longtime member of the Sioux Falls City Council. Workers raised the spillway and levees, upgraded a diversion dam and added a confluence dam to regulate water flow. After more than a decade, the project is finished. Local planners collaborated with the US Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA to design a three-phase plan. Since then, federal officials have reimbursed the city, and the project is a split among local, state, and federal money.Ī study in the 1990s showed levees along waterways in Sioux Falls were five feet lower than necessary to protect property from a major flood event. ![]() Five years ago city leaders advanced the federal government millions of local tax dollars to accelerate the project. That’s because a project to update levees in the city is complete, so FEMA officials are changing flood maps. The official floodplain in Sioux Falls is shrinking.
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