Liz Brown has known her Sandy Springs home was in a flood zone for years, and finally the maps agree with her.
To Brown’s delight, proposed flood maps for Sandy Springs have a large swath of water covering her Pine Forest Road home.
“My home has flooded five times, so I’ve known I’m in a flood zone,” she said. “I’m just glad the city officials and FEMA finally agree with me.”
A massive remapping project, spearheaded by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, is taking a close look at the current flood maps of counties and municipalities across metro Atlanta and the state. Through a joint effort with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a 107-mile stretch of the Upper Chattahoochee River Basin is one of the areas where Georgia DNR is reassessing flood risk. Officials say the project should be complete in 2012.
Flood maps are also changing in other parts of Fulton, as well as Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth and Gwinnett, all part of the basin. Officials in those counties, and associated municipalities, are gearing up for open houses, to be scheduled this fall. The public events will feature the revised flood maps with local government staff and representatives from DNR and FEMA.
How the changes will affect each city and county is still being determined. Sandy Springs and DeKalb County both have advanced mapping systems that have allowed the DNR to be more specific about affected areas. In DeKalb, for example, DNR has determined nearly 550 acres could be added to the 100-year floodplain. At the same time there could be 182 fewer structures in the 100-year floodplain, as the lines move to include areas of increased risk and excludes areas of decreased risk.
In many communities, including Sandy Springs, torrential rains in 2009, which resulted in flooding for many, helped redraw flood lines. Included in the proposed maps for the north Fulton city are not only expanded floodplains but also expanded floodways, which have strict development rules. In a floodway, water must be able to discharge without making the flood worse, according to FEMA.
Included in the proposed floodway, according to maps on the city website, are 13 homes on Pine Forest Road, including one that Sandy Springs has been approved to purchase using state and federal money. The city received $2.7 million to buy six homes, including four on Pine Forest Road, which sustained substantial damage from multiple floods, including those after storms in the fall of 2009.
Development and changes in topography are two major factors that can change the flow of water. With all of the building that has gone on in and around the metro area, it was time the maps get a second look, many said.
“There are places flooding now that didn’t flood 10 or 12 years ago,” Brown said. “This is way overdue.”
Since 2009, Trummie Patrick, a State Farm Insurance agent, said he has gotten a number of questions about flood insurance. He said property owners are much more aware of the need for flood insurance.
Patrick, who also lives in the Roswell area, said he’s sure the remapping will bring even more inquiries.
“The more aware people are of the flood risk to their property the better,” he said.
Kevin Peskin, who lives in Sandy Springs inside Interstate 285, said he was surprised to find out his home was in the expanded flood area on the proposed maps. He said for his home to take on water, flooding would have to be worse than it was in 2009.
He doesn't think his home is in imminent danger of flooding, but Peskin recently purchased flood insurance so he could get it at a cheaper rate. He said he expects to attend one of the open house events in Sandy Springs this fall so he can ask officials why his home was included on the news maps.
But in the meantime, he's not taking any chances.
"If the maps say we're now in a flood zone, I'm not going to argue with the map," he said. " I'm going to do what I need to do to protect my family and home."
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