Flood maps go online Sept. 4

Terrebonne Parish has received the Flood Insurance Rate Maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, revised following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. FEMA uses the maps to help set rates for the National Flood Insurance Program, which the agency administers.

Residents can view the maps at an open house held at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center on Sept. 17. FEMA representatives will be available to answer questions about flood insurance and how the maps were formulated.

The maps will be posted soon on the parish government Web site, said Parish Manager Pat Gordon, or they can be viewed at lamappingproject.com after Sept. 4.

Gordon said for the northern part of the parish, the new maps are similar to the Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps issued previously by FEMA as a guideline for parish homeowners and businesses. However, the southern part of Terrebonne shows two- to four-foot differences.

“These are significant changes,” he said. “Now is the time to get flood insurance before the maps change. It may be mandatory to get flood insurance. It’s better to get it now.”

The Louisiana Mapping Project Web site shows that 18,127 flood insurance policies were effective in 2007 in Terrebonne Parish with annual premiums of $7.7 million providing $3.2 billion in coverage.

Before the new maps were issued, the last effective flood map for Terrebonne Parish was updated in 1993. FEMA undertook an initiative to update flood maps nationwide in 2003.

The arrival of the maps accompanies an announcement by Gov. Bobby Jindal that the state may be near to uncorking the more than $100 million promised to Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes for flood protection. Much of the money is coming out of recent state budget surpluses and approved during a special legislative session earlier this year.

Included in the package is money to help fund introducing more Mississippi River water into Bayou Lafourche ($24 million), improving Louisiana Hwy. 1 in southern Lafourche and completing the Golden Meadow Lock Structure ($53 million), constructing a flood-control lock on the Houma Navigation Canal ($43 million) and building the Larose to Golden Meadow levee ($15 million).