Kennebec County Final Map Meetings Scheduled
Joseph Young
Maine Floodplain Management Program
Digital Map FEMA will be holding mapping meetings for community officials on January 28 and 29 to receive comments on the new digital flood maps. Preliminary maps were distributed in July of 2008 for review by community officials. These meetings will provide local officials a chance to meet with FEMA and Contractor staff and express any concerns and comments regarding the preliminary maps. After receiving comments from community officials the contractor will review and respond appropriately.
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Remember This?
Do we have any grey beards who can identify this location?
This should be a challenge!
We will publish the location in our next newsletter along with the names of anyone who can identify it.If you have any flooding pictures you would like to contribute to our archives please send them along either by e-mail or regular parcel post to: Joseph Young
Maine State Planning Office
184 State St.
38 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0038.
We can scan the images and return your originals.
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Last Months Picture
Mathew Nazar
Deputy Director of Develpment Services
Augusta, ME
Was the first to identify the picture last month but it took over 14 minutes.
"That's the Fairbanks
bridge over the Sandy River in Farmington - April 1, 1987. I grew up in Wilton
and knew that bridge well although I was a student at UNH on that date. I came
home that weekend to see the devastation - half of Main Street in downtown
Wilton was gone. The new bridge doesn't have the same character, but at least
it won't be carried downstream by an ice build up behind the abutments. I
believe the view is looking South, toward Fairbanks."
Chris Leavitt, CEO, LPI
St. George, ME
Also sent us a note.
"That picture is from the Town of
Farmington
"fairbanks" to be more specific. The fairbanks bridge washed out in the
flood '87 around 6:00am ish
(give or take a few minutes). I actually lived just up the road from this at
the time I was 10 (you do the math I'm far from a grey beard). We heard the
bridge let go from our house. I remember it being a rather intense couple of
days all around the area.
Thanks, you can make the check
payable to "cash"
The Fairbanks Bridge During the Flood of 1987
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Counties Gearing up for Revising Mitigation Plans
by Joann E. Mooney
State Hazard Mitigation Officer, Phone 207-624-4466 Maine Emergency Management Agency2009 marks the beginning for updating Hazard Mitigation Plans for all of Maine's Counties. To keep their eligibility for mitigation grant funding all counties are required to update their plans have them re-approved by FEMA every five years. Waldo County was one of the first to complete a FEMA approved plan and therefore will be one of the first to start the update process. These plans are the key to eligibility for disaster funding for communities in each county. Any community that wants to remain eligible for mitigation grant funding they must participate in the planning process. Communities are encouraged to participate in County plan revisions by attending County planning meetings, identifying mitigation projects within their communities and by adopting the final version of County plan through a local resolution by the Board of Selectmen or Town Council. To find out more about the county hazard mitigation plans contact your County EMA office through the Maine Emergency Management web site. If you have any other questions you can contact Joann Mooney by phone 207-624-446 or by e-mail.
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 Oxford County Towns Face July 7, 2009 Deadline
Joseph Young
Mapping Coordinator
Maine Floodplain Management Program
207-287-8051
FEMA issued a letter of final determination on January 7, 2009 to mark the end of the mapping process in Oxford County. Now the towns have until July 7th to adopt new floodplain ordinances reflecting changes to the maps and new FEMA regulations for floodplain management. Between now and July 7, 2009 the communities will receive several letters reminding them that they must update their ordinances before that date to avoid suspension from the National Flood Insurance Program.
Oxford County communities will be the first to have digital maps. Each community will have the maps available in Adobe PDF file format as well as the opportunity to receive shape files for use with local GIS software. We are expecting the final maps to be printed by the end of May.
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CEO Certification Program Update
As of
January 31, 2009, the State Planning Office will temporarily scale back its code
enforcement officer training and certification program activities, pending
legislative budget deliberations. Both the difficult state revenue picture and
related hiring freeze prevent us from filling vacant program positions at this
time. For now, we are only able to meet minimum statutory requirements for the
program. We are not required to provide technical assistance to code
enforcement officers or local plumbing inspectors, and are nolonger able to offer this
additional service. Please see our web site for information about state laws,
rules and regulations, frequently-asked questions, and training manuals. The
Maine
Municipal Association or your local town attorney may be able to help with legal
questions.
Further
information appears on our website. If you have other questions please
call 287-6077. As soon as we have information
about future code enforcement officer training and certification, we will let
interested parties know.
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Digital Flood Maps Only after October 1, 2009
Since the 1970's, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP) has provided flood hazard maps and reports to help more
than 20,000 participating communities manage and reduce risks. FEMA
currently distributes both paper and digital flood hazard maps and
reports. Beginning on October 1, 2009, customers may order only
digital flood hazard maps and reports. FEMA's Map Service Center (MSC)
will not produce or distribute paper Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs),
Flood Hazard Boundary Maps (FHBMs), or Flood Insurance Study (FIS)
reports on or after this date, other than a single paper copy provided
to communities when their maps are updated. Users of paper maps should start planning to make a transition to digital flood hazard maps and reports now. For more information please review the FEMA publication Moving to Digital Fact Sheet.
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LiDAR For ME
by Joe Young
Mapping Coordinator
Maine Floodplain Management Program
"How much will it cost for statewide LiDAR coverage?"
It is
important to remember that LiDAR is a technology that can produce a wide
variety of products of which high resolution topographic contours is just one. Other
products include digital elevation models, break lines, triangulated irregular networks,
digital terrain models each product has a cost associated with it that is in
addition to basic acquisition costs of the data from which all these products
are processed from.
We have
estimated that basic acquisition costs for the state are approximately 4 to 5
million dollars. The costs of processing to acquire 2 foot topographic contours,
digital elevation models and hydro enforced break lines for use in floodplain
mapping would cost an additional 4 to 5 million dollars.
Once the
data is acquired, spin off benefits from this long term capital investment
include;
- Reduced costs for large scale projects
such as wind power, manufacturing, retail and subdivision projects.
- New data for forest resource
management, biomass studies, woods road management and design.
- Better data for agricultural development
including, soils analysis, irrigation pond design, watershed management and manure
management planning.
- Significant savings to municipalities
in the design of sewage and storm water separation systems.
- Better and more effective agency
reviews of permit applications requiring topographic data for modeling and view
shed analysis.
- Reduced costs for transportation
planning projects allowing more work to
be accomplished in house rather than fielding survey crews.
- hands on data for university research and software development.
Maine has made do with USGS generated topography for over 60 years. With new LiDAR technology coupled with potential federal agency partnerships we have the potential to upgrade our data for minimal cost with maximum benefits.
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Quote of the Day
"
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds."
Mark Twain.
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Newsletter Funding
This newsletter is funded with a grant provided by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
EMB-2007-CA-0874
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