St. Charles Parish residents disturbed, disheartened by new flood insurance maps

On Monday afternoon, Bayou Gauche resident Charles Boyer II scanned the R.K. Smith Middle School Cafeteria, watching as hundreds of St. Charles Parish residents funneled through its double doors. "They should call this death to Des Allemands," he said. At the first FEMA open house in St. Charles Parish, residents were invited to meet with engineers, FEMA representatives and insurance experts to better understand the effects of the new proposed flood insurance maps, which outline base flood elevation changes throughout the parish. Residents were also encouraged to use computers to plug in their addresses to see exactly how their properties will be affected. Many -- especially those living on the west bank of St. Charles, parts of which are protected by a levee that will be no longer recognized in the new flood map -- were confronted with disheartening news.

"My whole life savings is gone," said Annie Knuppel, who lives on Dixie Street in Des Allemands. Knuppel bought her home in 1992, when her lot was in a zone that did not require any flood insurance at all. According to the new maps, her home, which is elevated 3 feet, is still 4 feet under the base flood elevation. As a result, her flood insurance premiums will increase by thousands of dollars each year. "I pay $350 now. They told me I'll have to pay $15,000. That means either foreclosure, or bankruptcy for me. And my parents -- my daddy's house is 3 feet under now," she continued. "He's in hospice dying of cancer, they're living on fixed income with no savings, and now they're going to lose their house, too."

The new flood insurance maps, if approved by the St. Charles Parish Council, will override and replace the flood insurance rate maps which were put in place in 1992, nine years after St. Charles Parish entered into the National Flood Insurance Program, in 1983. The new maps reflect the $100 million post-Katrina levee system extension that now protects vast swaths of the parish's east bank, part of a $14.6 billion Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity project designed to better protect parts of New Orleans and surrounding areas against storm surge. As a result, St. Charles residents living along the parish's east bank can anticipate lower insurance costs once the new maps are approved, adopted and put into place sometime next year.

The west bank of St. Charles Parish, however, is a different story. The current flood maps take into consideration the Sunset Drainage District, which handles levees, drainage and canals for a 16.4-square-mile area that includes Des Allemands, Bayou Gauche and Paradis. The updated maps do not consider the west bank levee system, in calculations of new base flood elevation levels, meaning that west bank residents will see significant increases in their flood insurance costs. Boyer, whose home is protected by the west bank levee, but suddenly 1 foot below the new base flood elevation, will likely see his flood insurance premium increase from $350 to $5,000 per year.

More at http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2013/03/st_charles_residents_disturbed.html#incart_river_default .