Fort Bend County reps lobbied the Federal Emergency Management Administration for a deadline extension on data that may reduce the need for flood insurance to thousands of Fort Bend County residents.
A meeting in Washington D.C, allowed an agreement to extend a September deadline on the revised mapping that could ensure that Fort Bend residents living behind levees won't have to secure expensive flood insurance. Local representatives believe the new and existing levees can be fully certified to 100 year flood elevation protection by FEMA once the preliminary revised maps are published. Local residents will have to wait until the publication of the new maps to determine their status within the flood plain.
Over the past two years, Fort Bend County has worked with FEMA to update the county's flood plain maps. Today, levee districts within the county are spending over $45,000,000 in local money (without federal funding) to build or rebuild levees as necessary to protect to the new 100-year flood elevation and higher.
County officials felt the upcomming deadline would not allow experts sufficient time to fully review the final river model once it was received from FEMA's contracted engineer. If counties failed to complete mapping before the target date, FEMA would not certify the levees. Residents then would be forced to buy flood insurance on top of the taxes already required by their respective Levee Improvement Districts.
The levee project is a joint venture between Fort Bend County and other area taxing entities, runs from Richmond, near the new Fort Bend County jail on Ransom Road, along the Brazos River to the Greatwood subdivision west of Sugar Land. It includes a new levee that is connected to existing levees and all are being elevated.
Thousands of homes in Sugar Land, Missouri City, Sienna Plantation, Greatwood, Pecan Grove and other west Fort Bend County planned developments are located behind levees.
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