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A Few Clouds Valley Stream signs off on flood map
More than 1,500 homes in Valley Stream will be removed from the high-risk flood zone following the adoption of a new map by the village board on Monday night.
The board unanimously approved a plan put forward by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a revision of the controversial map that took effect in 2009. According to village officials, 1,549 homes will come out of the high-risk flood zone, while 855 homes will remain in it.
The discussion between board trustees and residents was often heated, with several residents imploring the board to reject the map. “These maps are not right because water doesn’t stop in the middle of the street,” said Gibson resident Joseph Margolin, referring to the boundaries of the high-risk flood zone. “We should have correct maps.”
Margolin, a longtime activist in the fight against FEMA’s flood policies, said his home on Cochran Place would remain in the flood zone. “There has never been a flood on Cochran,” he said. “During [Hurricane] Sandy, I sat in my house with all my power on, with no water in front of my house. Sandy qualified for what they want, the storm of the century.”
Bill McDonnell, a representative of FEMA, explained that the boundaries for the high-risk flood zone are based on where there is a 1 percent annual chance of a flood. “We’re not indicating that the water stops there,” he said. “We’re not saying that there’s no risk beyond that line. It’s just confirming what the risk is up to that point.”
Village officials defended the decision to adopt the new map, saying that removing so many homes from the flood zone is significant progress. Mayor Ed Fare said that the government would continue to fight for the 855 homeowners who remain in the flood zone by lobbying federal officials for change — or at least for more reasonable insurance premiums.
When the map first went into effect in 2009, homeowners were hit with insurance premiums exceeding $2,000 per year. Robert Linton, who lives on Spruce Street, said there has been inconsistency in those premiums, despite the fact that FEMA sets them.
