The Federal Emergency Management Agency is again zeroing in on Sacramento Delta levees, seeking assurances from owners of about 85 miles of barriers that they will withstand a 100-year flood.
The effort, under way in counties throughout the region, stems from a 2005 policy requiring that local jurisdictions nationally verify that their levees can hold back a flood having a 1 percent chance of striking in a given year.
Throughout Sacramento County, about a dozen reclamation districts, the city of Elk Grove and owners of other publicly owned levees have until late January 2009 to vouch that they can give FEMA proof that their levees will withstand such flooding. If the districts agree to go through the process, they'll have another 20 months or so to provide documentation.
Districts that can't document their levees' integrity will be drawn into a FEMA flood hazard zone, requiring residents with federally backed loans to buy flood insurance and that any new construction be as much as 16 feet above ground. Business owners would face similar requirements.
The potential consequences are similar to those now looming over homeowners and residential and commercial builders in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhoods.
"The message I'm trying to get out is, if they buy their flood insurance earlier, it will be cheaper," said George Booth, senior engineer and floodplain manager for the Sacramento County Department of Water Resources. "And if you're planning to build something, you'd better get a permit quick."
Booth said about 85 miles of levee in south Sacramento County may become part of the process, covering approximately 34,000 acres.
Producing documentation will be difficult for some reclamation districts that do not have the money to endure expensive engineering and structural work to meet FEMA certification by fall 2010.
But several mainly agricultural reclamation districts on Sutter, Randall and Libby McNeil islands do appear headed for flood-zone designation.
One district, Randall Island Reclamation District 755, is small, at just 408 acres.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked the district to correct its levee problems over a year ago, said Judy Soutiere, flood-risk manager for the corps.
"Once they feel they've fixed everything, they need to let the Corps of Engineers know and the state Department of Water Resources," Soutiere said. "If they have corrected it, we can go back out there to reinspect."
That has to happen quickly, however.
Kathleen Schaefer, a FEMA engineer, said if a district does not meet that corps requirement, FEMA will have no choice but to place it in the flood-zone maps due in fall 2010.
Schaefer said FEMA is working on updating data on tentative levee maps of the area and will make those available to local planners in about two weeks.
Call The Bee's Loretta Kalb, (916) 478-2641.
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