New Local Flood Maps to be Unveiled Thursday

New – albeit preliminary – flood maps for Mercer County will be available for the public to view during an “open house” that will be held Thursday (March 10) at the Lawrence Township headquarters of the Mercer County Library.

The event, co-hosted by the Mercer County administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. in Meeting Room 1 of the library at 2751 Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1).   

The new maps, which were designed so as to provide residents with a “realistic assessment of their risk from flooding,” are the product of a five-year, $1 billion program called “Map Modernization” that was ordered by Congress to provide updated, digitized flood maps for 92 percent of the United States’ population.

There will be no public presentation, but county, state and federal officials, along with floodplain management and flood insurance experts, will be on hand to answer questions about the maps and to offer advice to residents about possible ways they can reduce their risks of flooding.

Members of the public can stop by any time during the open house hours.

According to FEMA officials, on the new preliminary maps, 63 percent of the 4,380 parcels in Mercer County previously identified as being at risk of flooding were removed from the “special flood hazard area” list. But 1,618 parcels were added to the hazard list “upon being identified as properties subject to a significant risk from flooding.” 

“Letting a community and its residents know about their risk from flooding and how they can take measures to reduce that risk is the reason why we develop the maps and conduct these open houses,” said Tim Crowley, director of the Mitigation Division for FEMA’s Region II, which covers New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

“We are grateful that county officials have notified everyone who may be affected by the new maps. That insures a good turnout at the open house which leads, in turn, to a community well informed about their flooding risks,” Crowley said.

FEMA officials said the goal, in part, to holding such open houses before the maps are finalized is to increase community awareness about potential flood reduction measures.

“However, for individual residents who are at high risk for flooding, where community-wide or individual risk reduction measures have not fully mitigated the risk, the only available mitigation option is the purchase of flood insurance,” Crowley said. “If you’re currently out of the flood zone, but are going into it under the new maps, you should buy it now. That way, your current, less risky flood zone designation can be ‘grandfathered’ in, enabling you to get the same coverage and protection at a lower rate.”

Owners whose properties are located in high risk flood zones and who have a mortgage through a federally-regulated lender are required, under an act of Congress, to have flood insurance, according to FEMA. Similarly, all county and local public buildings located in such a flood zone must be insured against flood in order to qualify for federal disaster assistance aid.

Additional information on “Map Modernization,” the National Flood Insurance Program and “grandfathering” can be found at the open house and also online at the FEMA website.