FEMA addresses unaccredited levees

Lafourche Parish levee officials met with FEMA representatives yesterday for a briefing on how the National Flood Insurance Program will address levees that fail to meet federal standards.

Dwayne Bourgeois, general manager of the North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District, said Monday that he expected FEMA to reveal its plans on how to address unaccredited levees in setting NFIP insurance rates and new structure elevation limits.

“We’ve been trying to get them to give us an opportunity to see what their revised process is before they release it to the public and to give them some feedback to see if we think it will give reasonable credit to the levees,” Bourgeois said. “We’re going to see the big unveiling, I guess, tomorrow.”

FEMA announced in March that it would consider factoring in unaccredited levees in its National Flood Insurance Program maps. The move was heralded in Lafourche Parish, whose levee directors say federal standards require more capital than is available. Bourgeois, Parish President Charlotte Randolph and approximately 20 more flood protection stakeholders across the country met with Mary Jo Mullen, a member of FEMA’s Risk Analysis Division.

The Tri-Parish Times will provide updates as the story progresses.