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November 16, 2000
News Release
Floodplain work, programs prepare King County for flood season
Owed to its extensive floodplain accomplishments and programs, King County is one of only a handful of counties in the nation earning a "Class 6" rating in the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System. The rating translates into a 20 percent dollars and cents annual savings to property owners who buy flood insurance policies in unincorporated King County.
What's more, the county has bolstered its floodplain work and programs in the last year, and expects its new application will allow a "Class 5" rating, or another 5 percent to the current 20 percent savings. Overall, that could mean more than $80 per year on a typical residential policy.
The rating credits the county for such accomplishments and activities as home buyouts, home elevations, improvements to the flood warning program, re-mapping of outdated Flood Insurance Rate Maps, and updating the King County Flood Hazard Reduction Plan to ensure it complies with Endangered Species Act obligations.
Major initiatives in the last year include:
- Home buyouts and elevations -- The county has been successful in leveraging federal/state disaster funds to purchase or elevate homes in unincorporated King County that have been chronically damaged from flood waters in recent years. Since last November alone, the county purchased and remove five homes (one in the White, and two each in the Cedar and Snoqualmie watersheds) at a cost of about $1.1 million. Flood disaster grant funds have paid for 87½ percent of the costs of these home purchases. Federal funds also paid for elevating six homes in the Snoqualmie area at a cost of about $300,000.
- Construction Projects -- Three major projects worth nearly $1.5 million were completed in the last year to reduce flooding impacts in a fish friendly way. They include an $800,000 project to install woody debris and create an engineered logjam to protect a river bank on the Snoqualmie River in the City of Snoqualmie; a $525,000 cooperative project with the Boeing Co. in Kent to set back a levee 170 feet along 4,000 lineal feet of the Green River; and a $150,000 project to remove a levee, reshape and plant an overbank area adjacent to the Cedar River near the Cedar Grove Road.
- Flood warning brochures -- About 8,000 brochures will be distributed to floodplain residents by the end of the month. The brochure is intended to provide residents living in high hazard floodplain areas in King County with information on the risks of flooding, why it is important to take preventative measures at home, the need for flood insurance, and information on King County's flood warning system.
King County also strictly enforces land use and storm water management regulations in floodplains, and actively maintains and repairs its flood control facilities.
To learn more about what King County is doing to prepare for flood season, click on the county Department of Natural Resources & Parks Web site at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/topics/flooding/FLDtopic.htm
Related Info
Flood Warning System
Hydrologic Information Center
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