The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently released flood recovery guidance documents for Jefferson, Orleans and St. Bernard parishes as well as portions of Plaquemines and St. Charles parishes in southern Louisiana.
The agency is recommending that substantially damaged homes and businesses protected by levees be elevated by three feet, or follow what is shown on the current effective flood insurance rate map, whichever is higher. For those with substantially damaged dwellings outside levee-protected areas in these parishes, FEMA recommends what is shown on the current effective flood insurance rate map, plus one to three additional feet in elevation, depending on parish location.
“Our goal is to help leaders in these parishes make the best decisions on rebuilding safely using the best available data from a variety of sources,” said Gil Jamieson, FEMA's Deputy Director for Gulf Coast Recovery. “This guidance provides those communities specific information they need to make better informed decisions on how high water might rise during floods and at what height buildings should be constructed.”
“FEMA strongly recommends communities build higher and stronger to reduce vulnerability from flooding during future hurricanes,” said David Maurstad, FEMA's Mitigation Division Director and Administrator of the National Flood Insurance Program. “FEMA provides this kind of advisory information to local governments, but ultimately it is state and local officials, working with their citizens, who make final decisions on land use and other building code requirements.”
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