Conflicting federal policies may cost residents more on flood insurance, and leave them at risk
Thousands may be unaware of dam failures dangers because of federal policies.
Conflicting federal policies may force thousands of residents in flood-prone areas to pay more for flood insurance or be left unaware of danger posed by dams built upstream from their homes and worksites, according to an Associated Press review of federal records and data.
The problem stems from a complex set of flood policies and some national security precautions taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
To get the best discount on flood insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s points-based rating system requires communities to chart all the homes, businesses and critical facilities endangered by a potential dam failure and warn people of their risk. But that’s difficult or even impossible in some communities, because other federal agencies restrict the release of such information for hundreds of dams that they own or regulate across the U.S., citing security risks.
The quandary has persisted for years, though federal officials have been warned of its implications.
Federal “dam information sharing procedures costs communities points, homeowners money, and potentially citizens lives,” a California emergency services official warned in a January 2020 presentation to FEMA's National Dam Safety Review Board at an invitation-only meeting attended by dozens of federal and state officials.
The meeting's minutes were provided to the AP this summer, nearly two-and-half years after the news organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to FEMA.
Since that meeting, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun publicly posting maps of areas that could be flooded if one of its hundreds of dams were to fail. But similar
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