The Chronicle editorial, 11/24/2001
The coordinator for the city of Centralia for a grant program to raise homes to protect them from flood damage has some very worthwhile advice for homeowners at risk from that - buy flood insurance.
That way, if the homeowner does get flooded, the insurance will reimburse the damage rather than the homeowner having to depend on government disaster assistance that may fall far short of the total damage.
Meantime, the home elevation program is designed to help those who have had major flood damage in the past who am thus eligible for the assistance.
Note that the money doesn't pay for structural damage or damage to or loss of possessions from the previous floods. Rather, it is designed to prevent flood damage to homes in a cost-effective way.
The program provides federal and state grants to eligible homeowners for up to 87.5 percent of the cost of elevating their homes a foot above the high water mark in the 100-year flood plain or to the level of the 1996 flood in the Chehalis River system that devastated the Twin Cities area.
It's a darned good program that stands to save the government - the taxpayers - a bunch of money on avoided disaster relief costs. A drive around Centralia's lower-lying residential areas shows many folks have taken advantage of the elevation option.
It enables them to remain in their homes without undue concern about further flood damage in the unlikelihood there will be another flood in their lifetimes similar to the one in 1996.
Meantime, for those still concerned about flooding of their homes, insurance, available to all homeowners, is a wise investment, says Roy Browning, the Centralia grants coordinator. The insurance is inexpensive and covers damage to structures and possessions.
Relying just on disaster assistance is foolhardy. As Browning points out, flood victims "might get $1,500 if they're lucky" when "it's not uncommon to have $40,000 worth of damage to a home." If their home hasn't been elevated and they don't have insurance, they aren't in line for much financial help.
FLOOD AVOIDANCE: A logical way to avoid flood damage to new homes and other structures, short of elevating those that are vulnerable, is to not build them in flood plains.
In fact, that is preferred by the federal government, which provides flood disaster assistance and insurance. "The feds would like it if we would limit building in the flood plain," offered Roy Browning, overseer of the city of Centralia program for government grants to elevate houses.
The city only goes as far as to recommend all new buildings be raised a foot above the 1996 level. Of course that generates often exaggerated claims about the effects of such filling in flood plains.
The long-term best way to avoid flood damage in the Twin Cities area, not only to homes, but to all other private - and public - property and to avoid immensely costly economic disruption is to use flood prevention measures such as those for which funding is being sought. Complete the engineering, geo-technical and hydraulic studies and design work and start work on dredging, diversion for storage - whatever it takes.
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