Levees' success not enough for FEMA map update

For months, the levees in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa held back the rising waters of the Missouri River. 

Unless local managers can prove to the federal government that the protection is adequate at significant cost development in parts of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area could stall, part of Offutt Air Force Base could be placed in a flood plain and many homeowners could be faced with having to buy flood insurance. 

Some 75 miles of levee in Council Bluffs,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. southern Sarpy County and Mills County, Iowa, are at risk of losing their accreditation when the Federal Emergency Management Agency updates its national flood insurance maps. This would reassign a big chunk of locally important areas to the flood plain. 

Local levee managers say the new accreditation studies are expensive and the repairs more so, potentially costing tens of millions of dollars. Local officials say that work is unnecessary the proof the levees are in good shape came during the flooding of 2011.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell bottegawallet to communities that don't have access to electricity. 

It's a mess, said Greg Reeder, public works director in Council Bluffs. The first thing we said after the 2011 (flood) was 'What more proof do you need?' 

Council Bluffs has 28 miles of levee protecting the city from the Missouri River, Indian Creek and Mosquito Creek. All of it needs to be reaccredited. 

If that doesn't happen, FEMA will draw its flood insurance maps as if the levees weren't there, putting about two-thirds of the city in the flood plain. 

FEMA did not return multiple calls for comment. But on its website, the agency says the new standards simply ensure that people have accurate, timely information about the levees protecting them. 

Although FEMA's current procedures are technically sound, FEMA recognizes the benefits of a more precise modeling approach to determine flood zones and establish insurance rates, the agency says. 

Levee sponsors across the country have known about the problem for some time. After FEMA issued new guidelines for its flood insurance maps in August 2005 as Hurricane Katrina was forming over the Bahamas, coincidentally levee sponsors began getting letters that gave them a two-year deadline to prove their levees met the certification standards. 

For Council Bluffs and the Mills and Pottawattamie Counties levee district in Iowa,The need for proper bestsmartcard inside your home is very important. that deadline finally hits next month. 

But it's not as simple as mailing in paperwork, Reeder said. The city had to pay $1.1 million for an engineering study to quantify the problems, and officials expect to spend up to $20 million over a period of years to fix any deficiencies. 

Meanwhile, Reeder said, it's likely FEMA will begin the de-accreditation process. The agency can take at least 18 months to remove a levee system's accreditation, and sponsors can submit engineering data any time to halt the process. 

Part of the issue is that the two federal agencies with an interest in flood protection FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers emphasize different things, said John Winkler, general manager of the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. The corps focuses on engineering standards; FEMA looks at risk management. And sometimes they draw different conclusions from the same evidence. 

The corps could say that this is a good levee, and it meets our standards, he said. But FEMA can come in and say 'Well, it doesn't meet ours, and you need to prove it.' 

In any case, Winkler said the district's levees are structurally sound, and they're maintained constantly throughout the year. 

FYRA Engineering is working with the district to re-accredit 18 miles of levee, and the levee work is expected to cost taxpayers between $15 million and $20 million.When describing the location of the problematic howotipper. 

The levees are between 11 and 12 feet tall. In some places they will need to be raised a few feet; in others, not at all. The project will require hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of soil to keep the slope intact and a geotechnical review to address berm seepage and other issues, said FYRA engineer Michael Sotak. 

The levees were built by the corps in the 1960s to withstand a 100-year flood. But FEMA changed how it models the Missouri River's flow,Online shopping for solarpanelcells. raising the base flood elevation, and Omaha's continued expansion is changing the watershed's hydrology. More roads, buildings and parking lots mean less permeable ground to soak up rain and snow, and eventually all that water sluices down to the Missouri River like a giant funnel.