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Lesson Lost

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: February 23, 2008

Next month will be the 15th anniversary of an event that should have left more of a lasting impression on West Pasco residents and officials than it has. This failure to learn is a major reason Pasco County officials are scrambling to get dozens of homeowners in flood-prone coastal areas in compliance with Federal Emergency Management Agency rules.

On March 13, 1993, a freakish convergence of tides and a severe winter storm front pushed a wall of water ashore in West Pasco and most of the rest of coastal west-central Florida. People living in places like Hudson Beach had to wade through chest-deep water in the dead of night to get to the safety of higher ground. The damage to property was extensive. The damage from a major hurricane would be a whole lot worse.

This week, Cindy Jolly, Pasco County's development director, told county commissioners many people in coastal areas of West Pasco aren't aware of FEMA rules meant to lessen property damage and human injury during storm-related flooding. One of the rules says houses in flood-prone areas can't have habitable space, including bathrooms, on their first floors.

First floors in high-risk areas are supposed to be used only for things like storage and parking. They have to be built in ways that would allow flood waters to flow through the space and cause as little structural damage as possible.

County officials, at present, are trying to get about 60 homeowners violating the FEMA flood rules into compliance, Jolly told the County Commission this week.

If Pasco could do a better job of complying, it will drop on FEMA's flood risk scale. Pasco is now at Class 7, on the 10-class scale. The closer it gets to Class 1, the bigger discount Pasco homeowners who buy FEMA flood insurance would get.

How's that for an incentive?

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