Do you know your flood risk?

November 4, 6:12 PMKansas City Science News ExaminerCharles Spencer

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The Missouri River floodplain at Jefferson City, 1993. Credit: MODOT.

So asks a television commercial sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which also cautions that all of us are at risk for floods. So does the FEMA website devoted to flood insurance myths and facts.

This approach overstates the problem (many people live in places that are extremely unlikely to be flooded by rising river levels), and in doing so runs the risk of not reaching those who actually are in flood-prone areas and don’t realize it. There are many houses built where flood risk is not trivial, but is not obvious. You don’t have to live along a major river to be flooded, so how do you know your actual risk?

One source of information is the FEMA website, where you can view what are called Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs. These maps are used as the basis for issuing federal flood insurance and often for local floodplain zoning. As of October 1, 2009 they are available only in digital format. You retrieve maps by clicking on the Find-a-FIRM button, then entering a street address. The name of the map covering the desired area appears, and clicking on the View icon downloads the map.

But although these maps are full of information, the process of viewing it is not all that user-friendly. First of all, the map covers a much larger area than your neighborhood, so you must pan and zoom to reach street level. Every time you do that, or click on any other tool, the image reloads at a frustratingly slow rate (even with a fast internet connection). Another problem is that you lose the map legend as you zoom. If you don’t know, or remember, what all of the map labels and symbols mean, you have to pan back to the legend, which involves more image reloads.

It doesn’t get any better once you find the area of interest, and create the page-sized map called a FIRMette (it’s free, whereas the complete digital map is not). More view changes are involved to position the map area, and the final document does not include a legend.

What are your alternatives? Many county and municipal zoning offices maintain flood maps that you can examine. But, if you live in Missouri, or in Leavenworth or Johnson Counties in Kansas, there are web-based resources that are easier to use and contain the same information.

Next time: Websites with better navigation, legends included!

For more info: FEMA