As floods loom larger, flood-map money gets smaller

The frequency and severity of floods appear to be increasing, and so is demand for updated flood maps, but funds for such mapping have been cut severely, from $222 million in 2009 to $100 million in 2013, and President Obama has proposed only $84 million for 2014, reports Theodoric Meyer for Pro Publica. (Photo from Federal Emergency Management Agency: FEMA Public Assistance Coordinator Jim Russell, left, and Day County,  South Dakota, Highway Supervisor Chuck Fromelt flood damage in 2011.)

FEMA said budget cuts will leave more homeowners relying on maps that are not current. Maps in areas such as Vermont, which was hit hard by a hurricane in 2011, are decades out of date, reports Meyer. Suzanne Jiwani, a floodplain mapping engineer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, told Meyer, "It is disconcerting to have counties and areas where people still have maps from the 1970s."

Maps were in the process of being updated in New York and New Jersey when Hurricane Sandy hit, reports Meyer. "Congress authorized the government to spend $400 million a year for the next five years to update flood maps," but after appropriations wrangles and the sequester, only $95 million was left. Larry Larson, of the Association of State Floodplain Managers in Madison, Wis., said it would require about $400 million a year for 10 years to get all the mapping done. (Read more)