Dangerous 'Fill and Build' Floodplain Policy Should Be Scrapped, Experts Say

[dutch777]

1. Duh! Flood plain maps are notororiusly inaccurate and don't account for climate change.

I was living in Washington State a number of years ago and there were areas along some rivers that flooded a number of times such that they basically had what the flood maps called 100 year floods about every other year. Most flood plain maps were inaccurate to begin with and have not been updated. And even if updated, local planning and zoning boards are discouraged from adopting them by the developer community as that would put too many costly or outright restrictions on home construction. And most homeowners are blissfully ignorant of the issues until their insurance company catches on and raises their rates astronomically, or drops them entirely, or they have two feet of muddy water in their living room. Buyer beware!