MONTGOMERY – Property owners in parts of seven counties in central and east Alabama may be impacted by a proposed updating of federal flood insurance rate maps.
A come-and-go open house this Thursday, Jan. 26 at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee will assist landowners in the Lower Tallapoosa Watershed area in determining if their property and structures will be affected by the newly drafted, but not finalized maps. Homeowners and landowners who have federal flood insurance pay rates based on the flood maps.
The event will be in the ballroom of Tompkins Hall on the school campus from noon to 6 p.m.
The Lower Tallapoosa Watershed area includes parts of Bullock, Elmore, Lee, Macon, Montgomery, Tallapoosa and Russell counties and involves all or parts of the municipalities of Eclectic, Franklin, Loachapoka, Notasulga, Pike Road, Shorter, Tallassee, Tuskegee and Union Springs as well as some densely populated communities.
The open house is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and Tuskegee University.
“FEMA, through ADECA’s Office of Water Resources, periodically updates flood maps throughout all Alabama watershed areas,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said. “Those updates are required because changes in the landscape through development and the nature change in the flow of rivers, creeks and streams can result in making some areas more prone to flooding or damage through water runoff. Therefore, it is advisable that landowners check these flood maps to see if changes have occurred on their property.”
During the open house water resource technicians will be able to precisely pinpoint properties and show land and homeowners if any changes in flood maps affect them.
A watershed is a natural drainage area involving creeks, streams, branches and land into a larger body of water, in this case the lower part of the Tallapoosa River.
Landowners can go to AlabamaFlood.com/Open House and type in their address to see if the proposed changes on the flood map affects them. Landowners who wish to appeal any changes can also access that site or go to msc.fema.gov.
Click here for a map of the Lower Tallapoosa Watershed area: LTWmap
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Media Contact
Jim Plott or Mike Presley
ADECA Communications and External Affairs
(334) 242-5525
