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Ed Yeates ReportingWashington County's 100 year flood has some running scared, perhaps too scared! Folks living in Salt Lake's Olympic Cove are getting mandatory flood insurance tagged onto second mortgages because of a flood plain survey that dates back more than two decades.
Residents say old flood plain surveys need to be updated before banks assess mandatory insurance. Many plans are part of a federal flood insurance program overseen by FEMA. FEMA is already being asked to re-evaluate flood plains for Big and Little Cottonwood Creeks, Willow Creek and Midas Creek. Salt Lake County says new evidence shows flood plains for these creeks are not as widespread as old surveys show, even over 100 year spans.
Neffs Creek is another one of those bodies of water that in this case winds its way through the Olympus Cove area. And at this high altitude, even in a high water year, it's doubtful you would see much flooding.
Old FEMA maps show a wide flood plain extending between 3900 and 4500 south. But residents say the surveys need to be updated. Expensive flood insurance is not needed this high up
Barbara Fredrick, Resident: “You know, $500, sometimes $1,000, depending on who you go with. And I’ve got mine to the barest that I can go and we’re still paying $600-$700 for it.”
79-year-old Gloria Ashton had to get a loan to pay for a new roof, only to find out she had to get flood insurance before she could get the money.
Gloria Ashton, Resident: “I’m on a fixed income and I get along as long as I don’t make unnecessary purchases. But to me that’s an unnecessary purchase.”
While many residents in Washington County wished they had been forced to take out flood insurance, folks here claim the topography at this altitude is not the same, nor is the risk. They want FEMA to take another look.
The Mount Olympus Community Council may pay for a new survey on its own, to be submitted to FEMA for a flood plain re-evaluation.
