Flood management plan to lower insurance rates

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials have adopted a flood management

plan that should lower the insurance rates of many residents for another

year.

The City Council, which approved the plan last week, expects insurance

rates will be cut by about 15% for residents living in local flood zones.

“We’re a very flat city, and almost 100% of our rainwater and storm

runoff has to be pumped out into a flood channel,” said Councilman Tom

Harman, adding that flooding during stormy weather is expected in the

area. “The majority of the city is only about 5 to 10 feet above sea

level.”

For the last six years, residents have received a 10% reduction on their annual flood insurance premiums because of the city’s participation

in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, which

is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The rating system, measured on a scale of one to 10, with one being

the highest, rewards communities that have taken steps to eliminate

flooding hazards with insurance rate reductions. Traditionally, the city

has held a Class 8 rating, but the most recent rating study reclassified

Surf City as Class 7, which will boost the maximum flood insurance

premium reduction to 15% on Oct. 1.

The flood management plan took almost a year to develop and identifies

hazards such as poor drainage or pump disrepair across the city, as well

as proposals to eliminate their associated risks and damage. It’s

required by FEMA to be eligible for the reduced insurance rates.

“I’ve experienced flooding in my own neighborhood,” said Walt White,

who served as a community member on the flood management team that drew

up the plan. “The three areas we need to concentrate on are the Santa Ana

River, runoff from local heavy rains and the Orange County storm

channels.”

Four county flood control district channels run through Huntington

Beach, which also has four of its own storm channels to ease flooding.

There are 16 pumping stations to transfer water to the flood channels.

“We need to update our storms drains as soon as possible,” said Gerald

Chapman, chairman of the city’s Planning Commission. “And our biggest

problem is the county’s channels, which were originally built to handle

65% of a 25-year flood.”

Today’s standards require flood channels to accommodate 100% of

100-year flood, but the county’s bankruptcy in 1994 diverted funds from

channel improvements to pay off debts, city officials said. If the

improvements were done, flood insurance premiums could be much lower

because the channels would be certified by the Army Corps of Engineers,

they added.

Between 1988 and 1998, the city suffered about $4.3 million in flood

damage from El Nino and other winter storms, damage to the city’s pier

and other flooding. Since last year, the city has been working on a

three-year, $6.4-million project to improve drainage along Goldenwest

Street and Intrepid Lane, improve a pumping station and make general

improvements to the Slater, Murdy and Michael storm channels for runoff

and flood water, city officials said.