And advocates for higher flood elevation standards could claim one recent victory: Two years ago, Obama toured a new mixed-income development in New Orleans called Faubourg Lafitte, which is on the site of a housing project destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.
The city also said that new buildings or buildings with significant damage in high-risk areas must be built at least one foot higher than the building code's current flood elevation, as an extra safety buffer.
The recovery has stalled as people debate whether it is worth it to rebuild their homes, and if so, how high they must raise them according to updated federal flood elevation maps.
They could use the best available climate change science; they could require that standard projects like roads and railways be built two feet above the national 100-year flood elevation standard and critical buildings like hospitals be built three feet higher; or they could require infrastructure to be built to at least the 500-year flood plain.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is releasing updated flood elevation maps that, especially for property owners near the beach, could mean some combination of higher flood insurance premiums, lower insurance coverage or the expense, perhaps $30,000, of raising their property.
A safety margin, generally one to three feet, between a base flood elevation and the design flood elevation.
Consider a single-family home in a zone with a moderate to high risk of a flood, that has a flood policy with $250,000 of coverage: if the home is four feet below the base flood elevation, the homeowner would pay an annual premium of about $9,500, according to FEMA.
The margin between this and the base flood elevation is called freeboard.
This area has a one percent (1%) chance of a flood equal to or exceeding the base flood elevation (a 100-year flood) in any given year.
Also, be sure to research with the Federal Emergency Management Agency or your municipality to find out your flood elevation — and get insurance.
Elevating structures and utilities above base flood elevation.
