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Flood Plain Administrator

Mac

Mac

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
716
Location
Hamilton, NY
Yep - another of my many titles. Last night a signifcant amount of rain stormed into the area, so today we have a couple of streets closed, high water on the golf course and the usual places including some cellars & basements. In a few hours the roads will drain off and in a couple of days the streams will be back in their banks where they belong.

Then the calls for more drainage structures, 'cleaning out' of the stream banks and tales of wet basements will begin.

I'll have to explain again how the natural system works - the 'high water' is retained upstream and released slowly to protect the downstream communities. And the 'failures' are caused more by man made changes than any other factor.

Anybody else here a Flood Plain person?

PS This has been a wild weather season, thoughts & prayers to the communities experiencing destructive events.
 
Not the administrator but...I will be dealing with flood plain issues...we had a portion of the city dumped into a flood plain by FEMA last year. No elevation certs yet.
 
you guys on the east coast have my sympathies for the latest round of tornadoes and flooding. makes the occasional earthquake and sunami not look so bad. i am the floodplain administrator, fire marshall, bo, and just appointed ada coordinator for the city. of course these duties came with "titles" and no more mony. downsizing is a wonderful thing for those who still have a job?
 
Rainfall update, April 2011 was the rainiest April on record, 8.5 inches.

Strictly coincidence - today I got the plans (dated Jan 2011) for the replacement of abutments of a footbridge across the little creek. There is an elevated footpath that acts to retain flood water, with the only outlet limits being the dimensions of the abutments, making the footbridge a flood control feature! I was immediately suspicious that the intent is to increase the amount of floodwater that can pass under the bridge but the dimensions are identical.

Short story shorter - I can approve this (Flood Plain Development Permit) in a jiffy.
 
Yes.. Some way or another I became the FPA.

There is money available from FEMA to help with the work you need done.. but it is done by grant.. and if you're not part of the CRS I wouldn't hold your breath on getting any of it.
 
For the most part, Sullivan and Orange Counties in NY have the Code Enforcement Official handle Floodplain also. Communities along the Delaware have some serious floodplains.
 
Most of the CEO's around here are also the FPA. It's a package deal.

We are located real close to the high point of two watersheds. If I spit in one stream, it flows north to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. The other stream flows south to the Chenango, Susquehanna, and the Chesapeake.

Due to new regulaitons regarding sewage treatment standards there has been talk of pumping our effluent to the other northbound stream. Apparently the Great Lakes Commission is easier to deal with than the Chesapeake Basin commission.
 
I have been notified that I am the Stormwater Manager. I know that code enforcement officer and building inspector are simillar and yet have different responsiblilities, as I have been both. It seems to me that Flood Plain Administrators and Stormwater Managers also have similar responsibilies.

Since you all are Floodplain Administrators (called Managers in many states); could you tell me how they differ in responsibilities from Storwater Manager?

Thanks
 
Here in NY the state Dept of Environmental Conservation oversees municipal stormwater regs. Of course they tell municipalities that we must do it.

Stormwater runoff may contain pollutants like grease and oil, but NY includes sediment in runoff from construction sites. Sites over one acre must implement an engineered stormwater management plan, including sediment control. We require the plan with the permit application.

Flood plain management is more focused on buildings and activities that effect the lower elevations that are prone to damage by high water. When flooding occurs in downstream communities, FEMA looks for causes upstream. Naturally occurring low areas usually retain water and send it downstream gradually. When the new shopping center paves and drains parking lots in a low lying flood plain, the water moves downstream much faster, making problems downstream.

(the short version)
 
Besides being the Building Official, I am also the CFM for our town. More of hassle just trying to maintain my certification pay the dues and keep up with the CRS requirements than anything else though. Not much flooding around here. Not much rain for that matter. Drought time here. I do get to go to Steamboat next week for the Annual Colorado Association of State Floodplain Managers Conference though. That will be something new. Good luck with your endeavors. It is a pretty litigious field to be in for sure.
 
FEMA sees it my way

A few months ago the owner of a relatively new home called. His insurance co. insisted the property is in a flood plain, and he needed flood isnurance that would cost $5,000 a year for... ever. I told him that when the house was built, I determined that portions of the property, but not within 200 ft. of the house, were in a flood plain. I wrote him a letter stating this fact, but the bank and insurer refused to accept it. Mr. Distraught Homeowner started to become seriously PO'd.

My advice was this is a fight I like, because I know we are on solid - and dry - ground. So the surveyor was called to shoot some elevations, and whaddya know - the house is above the flood elevation. Just yesterday the FEMA map amendment letter arrived stating the map was being amended to exclude the house.

So I was right, and Mr owner is happy again.
 
I guess that Mr. Homeowner never heard of perfoming his due diligence BEFORE buying his

"new" Shangri La huh?

.
 
The problem in my rural community is that the maps haven't been updated in years, they have streams where none exist and no elevations. The mortgage companies look at the map, see an "A" and require F.I. We have a small lake that has 6 different LOMA's for the area and cannot get a map change even to correct the nonexistent stream. It is a bonanza for the surveyors especially when they do an elevation certificate for a structure with the nearest waterbody 1/2 mile away. Frustrating!
 
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