SUNBURY — Completion of a Federal Emergency Management Agency-mandated study of the city’s flood protection system has been delayed by the weather.
Greg Wilt, assistant general manager and flood department manager of the Sunbury Municipal Authority, said engineers from the U.S. Army Corps expected to complete the study by the Oct. 23 deadline, but rainy weather through the month kept Susquehanna River levels up, delaying the deflation of the Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam and preventing engineers from inspecting sump wells in the flood protection system’s pump stations.
These inspections are expected to be complete by the third week of November, Wilt said, when river levels drop to about 8 feet, and the Army Corps intends to issue its final report to FEMA by mid-2010.
“What it appears to me is it’s going to take FEMA 18 months for them to revise the (flood) maps and put into effect new flood insurance rates,” Wilt said. “So there is sufficient time for the Army Corps to complete the study.”
He based this on communication he received from FEMA that indicated an 18-month time lag before the issuance of new flood maps.
In the meantime, the city’s flood protection system remains certified, Wilt said, and flood insurance rates in the city remain unchanged.
Attempts to confirm this independently through FEMA were unsuccessful Monday.
FEMA requires municipalities like Sunbury that operate and maintain state or federal flood protection levees and floodwalls designed for 100-year flood protection to certify that the structures provide that level of protection. The certification is part of the work to modernize federal flood maps.
The agency notified the city in August 2007 that a study of its flood protection system must be performed in order for the system to be certified. If the system meets FEMA standards, it stays on the agency’s flood maps and flood insurance rates stay the same.
The levee certification process includes a comprehensive engineering study of the flood protection system, including a hydrologic/hydraulic study that incorporates new development in the area; an analysis evaluating the structural stability of the levees and the floodwall during the design flow; an evaluation of potential seepage; and potential settlement of the levees and floodwall.
If the Sunbury flood protection system is not certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the new FEMA flood insurance maps will designate the areas behind the levee and floodwall as being flood-prone, which would significantly increase the cost of flood insurance for residents, particularly for those buying homes with government-backed loans.
Wilt said he has received no feedback from the Army Corps regarding how the flood protection system is faring throughout the months-long review process.
“It’s very possible the report could indicate a deficiency which would need to be addressed. I’d be surprised if there isn’t something that needs fine-tuned or adjusted in a 60-year-old system,” he said. “But I’m not really very concerned at this point because we do have a very good system that is well maintained and well recognized for its level of maintenance and operation.”
The estimated cost of the study hovers at $660,000, with 75 percent of that being paid by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through a combination of funds from the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 and the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009.
Half of the remaining 25 percent has been picked up by the state Department of Environmental Protection, with the final 12.5 percent expected to be provided locally.
With no final bill for how much the study will cost, Wilt said it has not been determined how the local funding obligation, originally estimated to be about $82,500, will be met.
Mayor Jesse C. Woodring did not return a phone call Monday about the issue.
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