Revision of flood maps could save residents money
Date: 12/29/2009
By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
CHICOPEE -- City residents living near the Connecticut River know there is a system of dikes, levees and pumping stations in place to guard against flooding, but apparently the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not.
According to the maps FEMA uses, the city's six miles of flood walls and eight pumping stations are labeled "inactive," with the possible result being the 1,200 residences in the area would be forced to buy flood insurance.
In a letter dated Dec. 11, Mayor Michael Bissonnette has formally asked federal officials to amend the FEMA maps as the city's flood control system has been classified "active" by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Bissonnette said the situation is a case of "the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing."
The mayor said that following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, there was a "bureaucratic over-reaction." Despite the fact there had been no flooding in the city since 1955, the federal government ordered the city to undertake a restoration of the earthen walls by removing any trees growing on them that might weaken them.
The city completed the work and the Army Corps of Engineers approved it and classified the flood control system as active. In the FEMA documents though the system is still considered "inactive."
Bissonnette finds the situation "frustrating."
He said if the banks holding mortgages on the properties in the affected area are notified, homeowners would have to spend about $2,000 on flood insurance.
If the letter to FEMA officials doesn't bring results, Bissonnette plans to travel to Washington, D.C. to lobby for action in Congress. There is legislation that has been discussed, he added, that would delay FEMA's action for one year.
He said this situation is not unique to Chicopee but is being faced by communities around the nation.
Prior to the construction of the flood control measures, the city suffered from major floods in 1936 and 1938.
