Owners of property likely to flood face extra insurance costs and more stringent construction requirements.According to their website, the Federal Emergency Management Administration maintains flood maps that show how likely a particular area is to experience flooding. If a property is in a high risk flood zone, the lender will probably require flood insurance. Ordinary property owners insurance or renters insurance does not cover flooding. Flood insurance is provided by FEMA through the National Flood Insurance Program. Under this program, flood insurance can be purchased for residential and commercial properties and for renters.The FEMA website indicates that flood hazards change over time because of issues like new construction, changing weather patterns and the building of levees and dams. A LOMC (letter of map change) request can be submitted to FEMA if a homeowner believes his property has been incorrectly mapped in a high-risk area,The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department provides flood plain management services for unincorporated El Paso County, the cities of Colorado Springs, Fountain, and Manitou Springs; and the towns of Green Mountain Falls, Monument and Palmer Lake, according to the PPRBD website. All proposed alterations and construction on properties in a flood plain must be reviewed by the department’s flood plain management office, which ensures all FEMA regulations are met.The website states that services of the flood plain management office include issuing flood plain development permits, maintaining local flood plain maps, inspections of approved development, investigations of flood plain violations, resolving violations and enforcing regulations and working with participating communities.ìThere is not a schedule for updating flood control maps, but there are constant updates funded by various stakeholders, said Greg Dingrando of the PPRBD. He said the building department usually gets three or four updates a year done by stakeholders. “FEMA will update large sets of the firm panels on occasion, Dingrando said. “The last one was done in 2018 and before that it was in 1997,î he said. Dingrando said the National Flood Insurance Program is using a new method to quantify risk and set insurance rates called ìrisk rating 2.0.îIn areas of special flood hazards as defined by FEMA, according to the Pikes Peak Regional Building Code, a flood plain development plan designed to minimize flood damage is required. For example, the lowest floor should be 1-foot above base flood elevation and all water and sewage systems must be designed to minimize or eliminate infiltration of flood water.Although new construction causes more runoff because of pavement and rooftops, new construction, in itself, does not contribute to changing the flood hazard, Dingrando said.He also said that one particular area in Falcon that has been subject to flooding is at the intersection of Woodmen and Meridian Roads where a shopping center is currently under construction.Dingrando said builders received FEMA approval: “There was a plat note requiring the flood plain revisions be finalized before building permits can be issued,î Dingrando said.Falcon Fire Protection District Chief Trent Harwig said that in years past the fire department has responded to flooding but there has been no instances of flooding in several years.
