On Feb. 22 and 24, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will host Virtual Flood Risk Open Houses for the Lake Michigan shoreline communities in Brown County. The Open House will give residents the chance to review preliminary versions of a recently completed Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report and its accompanying preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).
This FIS report and FIRM provide information on the base flood (also known as the 1-percent-annual-chance event) and on the areas of the shoreline that are subject to significant flood hazards. They also offer information that public officials will use when managing development in the floodplain.
At the Virtual Open House, representatives from various local, state, and federal agencies will be available to provide the most current information about flood risk, flood insurance, floodplain development regulations, and the process used to map Brown County’s floodplains. The newly prepared maps can be reviewed. Once these maps become effective, they will be used as the basis for flood insurance rates and for local floodplain management ordinances adopted under the National Flood Insurance Program.
FEMA also encourages public officials to use the effective maps as tools to assist planning processes and outreach efforts, to prepare the community to quickly respond to and recover from future events. Details for the Brown County meetings are as follows:
WHAT: Brown County – Public Open House meeting
WHEN: February 22 from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. CT
Meeting ID: 952 3987 3338, Password: FEMA21
February 24 from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. CT
Meeting ID: 952 3987 3338, Password: FEMA21
WHERE: https://zoom.us/join
In the United States, 98 percent of counties have experienced a flooding event. Property owners, Realtors, lenders, and insurance agents are urged to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about coastal flood risk and hazard mitigation within their community. Digital files of the Preliminary FIRM and FIS report can be downloaded from www.fema.gov/preliminaryfloodhazarddata. For more information, contact the FEMA News Desk at FEMA-R5-News-Desk@fema.dhs.gov