Public Can Comment On New El Paso FEMA Flood Maps

After months of collaboration and the continuous sharing of information resulting in preliminary flood maps, officials with El Paso County, Texas and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are now asking the public to participate in a 90-day comment period.

Homeowners, renters and business owners in El Paso County have from March 4 – June 2, 2011 to provide general comments, or to file an appeal or protest if there are possible errors on the map.

An appeal is a formal objection to proposed base flood elevations. Appeals must be based on technical data that show proposed maps to be scientifically incorrect. Anyone who makes an appeal must include the method, data and analysis used to support the claim.

Protests challenge information or data other than base flood elevation, such as changes to flood plain boundaries, corporate limits, or roads and road names. Comments, appeals and protests should be sent to FEMA through the local floodplain administrator.

Anyone who hasn’t had a chance to participate in local flood insurance meetings or to review the new flood maps is encouraged to contact the El Paso County floodplain administrator at (915) 546-2015. Other resources include:

Viewing the base flood elevation notices online at www.floodmaps.fema.gov/fhm/Scripts/bfe_main.asp.

Using a live chat service about flood maps at http://go.usa.gov/r6C. Click on the “Live Chat” icon.

Contacting a FEMA Map Specialist at 1-877-FEMA MAP (1-877-336-2627); email FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com.

Once all appeals and protests are resolved, FEMA will notify communities of the effective date of the final maps.

Follow FEMA on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/femaregion6 and the FEMA Blog at http://blog.fema.gov.