Scituate —
Scituate has the challenge of battling changing flood insurance regulations on two fronts – updated flood insurance rate maps, and affordability issues tied to the federal legislation.
U.S. Rep. William Keating, who represents the town of Marshfield and the Cape, spoke to both those challenges with the Marshfield Board of Selectmen on Monday night.
“We’ve shown a lot of progress but we’re not at the finish line yet,” Keating said.
The latest effort – an independent review of Marshfield flood maps and related appeals – has found a significant error in the methodology behind the new flood maps, Keating said.
Keating sought out the help of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology to review the Marshfield maps earlier this fall.
“They volunteered to look at the Marshfield appeal,” Keating said, explaining the scientists were not paid for their review. “We wanted someone with expertise in coastal studies to look at the maps objectively.”
The review, completed by John Ramsey of Applied Coastal Research and Engineering, Inc. and Brian Howes, director of the Coastal Systems program at UMass, found the modeling analysis used in the Marshfield maps is specific to the Pacific Ocean.
“The Atlantic Ocean waves are different. They are affected by storms and surges; it’s a whole different methodology,” Keating said. The wave model was used throughout the revised maps for the region, the consultants said.
With homeowners with mortgages facing huge hikes in flood insurance rates, as well as some homeowners being obligated to purchase flood insurance for the first time, all based on the revised flood maps, Keating said FEMA has an obligation to get the science right.
“The science isn’t appropriate particularly for the mid-Atlantic and our region,” Keating said.
The Congressman is hopeful this independent review will be another argument to bring to the floor and get a favorable vote to delay implementation of the maps and flood insurance rate changes
Keating, along with the other Massachusetts representatives and senators, has sent a request to FEMA’s Administrator Craig Fugate to request the agency utilize the correct methodology for the region in the flood maps and delay their implementation until the amendments are made.
In a press release, Scituate’s U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said his constituents have been telling him the maps are wrong and draw too many people into the flood zone.
“Now, we have scientific proof that these homeowners are right. I join my colleagues in calling on FEMA to halt their flood mapping process until Massachusetts homeowners can trust that FEMA’s flood maps are accurate. There is too much at stake to allow these inaccurate maps to go forward.” Lynch stated.
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