By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
More than 4,500 owners of property in flood plains across the county have been invited to a public meeting at the Salisbury Civic Center, 315 S. Boundary St., starting at 5 p.m. today.
The session is being jointly sponsored by Rowan County, the city of Salisbury and the N.C. Floodplain Management staff.
Residents and business owners will have the opportunity to review the maps and ask questions about the preliminary copies of the newly updated flood insurance rate maps.
A presentation on the material will start at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting will include the new digital flood plain maps for the county and its municipalities. The current set of flood plain maps was adopted in 1979, almost 30 years ago.
County and city officials will be on hand to help residents locate particular properties on the maps and determine their level of flood risk.
Representatives from the N.C. Floodplain Mapping Program and N.C. Floodplain Management will make short presentations on the map production process, features of the new maps, how the maps can be used to reduce future losses due to flooding and their connection with flood insurance and flood plain management.
Following the presentation, the state officials will be available to answer questions, including questions about flood insurance coverage.
The county Planning Department administers the flood damage prevention ordinance for all properties in the county except Salisbury.
In a letter to affected property owners, planners pointed out that changes may have occurred since 1979, and urged property owners to review the new maps.
A total of 4,594 properties in the county and municipal jurisdiction (excluding Salisbury) are in the flood plain, with a total of 466 structures within the flood plains.
The new maps were produced by the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety under a partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The effort to remap the state’s flood plains was spurred by the devastation caused by Hurricane Floyd, which flooded large areas of eastern North Carolina.
The maps are available at the Rowan County Planning and Development Department and are also available by searching the N.C. Floodplain Mapping website at www.ncfloodmaps.com.
For more information, contact the Planning Department at 704-216-8588.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or jburchette @salisburypost.com.