Bexar County flood map. Image Courtesy of San Antonio River Authority
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Bexar Flood Facts
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is set to approve Bexar County’s new Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or “DFIRM,” next month. Texas Public Radio’s Eileen Pace reports.
August 2, 2010 · The region's flood maps haven’t been updated since the 1970s. Russell Persyn, manager of San Antonio River Authority’s watershed management Department, says an improved ability to model and new computing power will provide a higher quality of data for the DFIRM maps than was previously available.
“So we get, you know, more accuracy than we had in the 70's. A good example of that is, in the 70s, when we previously did the maps, we were on ten-foot what we call ‘elevation contours,’ so there was 10-foot difference in those contours that we would see on the maps, and now we’re down to 2-foot contours,” Persyn said.
DFIRM will remove some areas from the floodplain and adds some new areas. For property owners who will be added to the floodplain in the new maps, lenders may require flood insurance. Persyn says now is the best time to take care of buying that insurance, before the maps are finalized.
“For some of them, the advantage now is that if they consider insurance or their lender may require them to have insurance they can get it at a preferred rate now as opposed to waiting until the maps become final,” said Persyn.
The new floodplain maps for Bexar County are set for final approval September 29, and San Antonio River Authority has scheduled a series of meetings this week for homeowners to ask last-minute questions.
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