FEMA requests additional info for flood maps

KELLOGG — Patience is the name of the game as the city of Kellogg inches toward a flood map revision with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

After submitting a letter of map revision (LOMR) back in February, FEMA recently responded with a request for more information — which in turn required the Kellogg City Council to approve extra work with Alta Science and Engineering to gather the additional information and get it sent to FEMA.

After the initial submission, FEMA responded just a few days shy of its usual 90-day threshold with the request for additional information and clarifications on the original application.

Kellogg city officials are working in conjunction with Shoshone County, the city of Smelterville, and Silver Mountain — all of which are hopeful that the LOMR will be approved and potentially alleviate the costs of flood insurance to property owners inside the targeted area of study.

The city used engineering firm Alta Science and Engineering to conduct a very complex flood study that included 160 cross sections of the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River between Elizabeth Park and Pinehurst, near the river’s confluence with Pine Creek.

Over the years homeowners in Kellogg, Smelterville and Pinehurst have existed within a floodplain as designated by the FEMA, which in turn has forced them to pay extremely high premiums for annual flood insurance on their properties.

“It has been such a monumental task for something like this to be submitted,” Shoshone County Commissioner Mike Fitzgerald said. “It’s really unbelievable how much time, effort, and money have gone into this over the years.”

It was released in July of last year that the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) had accumulated data over the years that could potentially change the floodplain maps on the western end of Shoshone County.

This data, along with the study conducted by Alta was then packaged into the LOMR, which will now be put under the FEMA microscope.

Alta’s study showed some dramatic changes in the number of property parcels that would be considered in the floodplain including an overall decrease from 1,118 (in 2008) to just 523 total properties, and 760 acres affected instead of the former 2,500 (in 2008).

FEMA would have to certify the information from the USACE in order for the maps to be changed, and according to Rod Plank, a special projects manager for the city of Kellogg, the project has been going on for several decades involving several entities.

“We worked with the Basin Commission prior to that on the initial study work which actually began back in the early 2000s,” Plank said in a previous interview. “That work along with the most recent work done by Alta Science & Engineering has all been financed by the Basin Commission and the city of Kellogg at a total in excess of $50,000.”

Flood insurance policy prices vary depending upon flood area and structure characteristics.

In general, the range is from just over $300 to thousands of dollars annually per property according to representatives at the Shoshone County Courthouse.

“The goal is to help our homeowners,” Plank said. “There’s a lot of folks who pay a lot of money annually and if we can ease that burden in any way then we’re going to do what we can.”

According to Plank, there is no timetable on when FEMA will respond, but he anticipates that once they have the additional information submitted the process should move right along.