The Federal Emergency Management Agency will review and possibly update a proposed flood map for the town of Johnson after state and local officials raised concerns that the draft didn’t incorporate data from recent flood events and showed a decreased risk of flooding in the town.
The draft map, which was first shared with local and regional officials in February, showed the 100-year floodplain in Johnson getting smaller, including in areas that have been inundated three times in the past year. (One hundred year floodplains are areas that have a 1% chance of flooding annually.)
According to FEMA, the draft map for Johnson did not incorporate any data from 2023 or 2024, a time period in which Johnson experienced three major flooding events that caused significant damage to the town.
“Whoever drew those maps, they weren't there on the streets pulling waterlogged, sewage-filled insulation out of housing,” said Thomas Galinat, Johnson’s town administrator.
The floodplain maps are used to determine if people need to purchase flood insurance and it’s easier for people living in flood zones to get FEMA buyouts. The maps can also help towns make decisions about where to develop and relocate flood-prone infrastructure — an important task as climate change brings more extreme rain and floods to the Northeast.
More from Vermont Public: Johnson's wastewater facility completely destroyed
State officials asked FEMA to incorporate the data from the recent floods into the draft maps, but the agency refused, said Rob Evans, the program manager of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s watershed management division.
“They said, ‘No, we're too far down the path, too much work has been done — we can't do that,’” Evans said.
That led DEC to make a formal request that FEMA revise the draft flood maps for Johnson.
“The maps are shocking,” said DEC Commissioner Jason Batchelder in a July 30 letter to FEMA. “They not only failed to reckon with the recent flooding in July 2023, but they actually reduce the Base Flood Elevations in devastated areas of these communities.”
Since that request from DEC, FEMA has changed course. In an interview with Vermont Public this week, FEMA officials said they were now going to incorporate recent flood events into the proposed map for Johnson.
“Based on what we find, those flood elevations could change,” said Christopher Markesich, acting branch chief of the floodplain management and insurance branch in FEMA Region 1. “And if they do change, and
“Whoever drew those maps, they weren't there on the streets pulling waterlogged, sewage-filled insulation out of housing."Thomas Galinat, Johnson town administrator
it's warranted, based on the review, the resultant mapping would be updated as well.”
The draft maps were developed over the course of five years, and were completed prior to the July 2023 floods, which is why that data wasn’t initially included, according to a FEMA spokesperson.
More from Vermont Public: After the floods, Vermonters face hard choices about whether to rebuild
The smaller floodplain on the proposed maps came to the attention of Johnson town officials and the Lamoille County Planning Commission while they were looking for places to relocate some buildings to avoid future floods. While they were examining the draft map, they noticed the 100-year floodplain appeared smaller than on the town’s current map.
FEMA had only shared a PDF version of the map, so the planning commission enlarged the picture, compared it to the old map, and drew notes on the new map to determine the floodplain had shrunk, said Tasha Wallis, executive director of the Lamoille County Planning Commission.
“FEMA has basically put forth maps which are suggesting that in the future flooding will be less severe in Johnson,” Wallis said in an interview. “That is simply counterintuitive.”
FEMA’s flood maps are notoriously outdated, and often don’t fully capture flood risks in an area, which is why the agency has been working to update the maps all around the country. Johnson’s current flood map is from the 1980s. FEMA began the years-long process to update it in 2019.
It’s unclear when the new floodplain maps for Johnson will be finished. Even if FEMA hadn’t paused its process to add the recent flood data, it would still take at least two years for the maps to become official, said Markesich, with FEMA.
Meanwhile, many other towns in Vermont are waiting for updated flood maps from FEMA. After what happened with Johnson’s draft map, Wallis, with the Lamoille County Planning Commission, said she has alerted her counterparts around the state to closely examine any draft maps they receive.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.
_
