Hernando Today
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Public Gets Look At New Flood Maps
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Published: October 3, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - Michael Bechtelheimer squinted at the computer screen Wednesday and had a hard time believing what he saw.
It was a bird's-eye photograph of his five-acre spread off Parsons Road, north of Brooksville and just south of the Citrus County line. Superimposed on top was the blue shading that indicates where the water would be during a 100-year storm event.
The blue blob covered the drainage ditch and nearly reached the rectangular spot on the photo that is Bechtelheimer's home.
But Bechtelheimer couldn't jibe the scenario on the screen with what he's seen on the land that's been his family for three generations.
"Water will never get that far out of that drainage ditch," said Bechtelheimer, who played on the land as a child in the 1950s. He built his house where he did based on his confidence in that, he said. "We knew good and well the water couldn't get there."
Cedric Bechtelheimer, Michael's younger brother who lives across Parsons and whose home would also be in a floodplain if the map is approved, agreed.
"It's not going to get anywhere near where they say it will," Cedric said.
The brothers were among the first Hernando County residents to get a look at - and offer feedback on - the county's new, revised flood maps during a workshop hosted Wednesday by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The district, known as Swiftmud, is in the process of updating the maps last revised in 1984. The maps, to be certified by the Federal Emergency Management Association, are used by mortgage companies to determine whether a property owner must buy flood insurance.
Hernando County's current flood maps haven't been revised since 1984. The district and its consultants unveiled preliminary maps last year but then admitted the methodology needed improving. The latest maps incorporate the rate that water is absorbed into sandy soil as well as new topographical data. The models in most cases use a one-day rainfall that would drop 13 inches of rain in 24 hours.
There are 22 watersheds in the county. Swiftmud will hold about seven or eight workshops, each one focusing on two or three watersheds. The district is mailing cards to property owners whose floodplain status would change based on the new maps.
Wednesday's meeting focused on the Powell and Lizzie Hart Sink watersheds. The former is south of downtown Brooksville; the latter extends from north of the city limits into Citrus County.
Swiftmud feels confident about the latest round of maps, said Mark Hammond, the district's director of resource management. But the Bechtelheimer brothers' lay-of-the-land knowledge is exactly what the district and its gaggle of engineering consultants hope to glean from the workshops, Hammond said.
Engineers will visit with the Bechtelheimers to incorporate that knowledge in the flood models used to come up with the revised maps and do the same whenever possible in the other watersheds, Hammond said. The input could cause the maps to be tweaked.
"We want to get out there and take a look at the area," he said. "They seem to have a good understanding of the land."
Bonnie and Steve Taylor came to Wednesday's meeting and saw at how floodwaters would affect their property.
The Taylors' seven-acre spread wasn't in a floodplain, according to the 1984 maps. The new maps, however, show water covering most of the property, including the land on which their mobile home sits.
There is sinkhole on the parcel north of them that fills up during heavy rains and drains in a day or so, Steve Taylor said. "But we've never had water on our property."
The Bechtelheimers and Taylors are among thousands of other property owners who face the prospect of a flood insurance bill. In the 11 or so watersheds that are nearly finished, some 45,000 acres of land are in a floodplain, Hammond said. The 1984 maps showed about 30,000 acres.
Flood insurance rates are based on about a dozen factors ranging from the replacement cost of the building to the date of the construction and the amount of the deductible, according to the National Flood Insurance Program.
Michael Bechtelheimer said he worries the annual tab could run a couple of thousand dollars a year. It's money the co-owner of the family's radiator repair company doesn't have lying around, he said.
"We're having just a hard time as the rest of the country," he said.
The maps likely won't get a final approval for at least another two years. Residents who disagree with the results will get the chance to file an appeal.
The Taylors plan to start pricing flood insurance soon, Steve said.
"We'll probably be looking at it now just so we're not surprised," he said.
The county utilities department is working in conjunction with Swiftmud on the project. Wednesday's meeting, which focused on two smaller, rural watersheds, was subdued compared to what lies ahead in other more densely populate watersheds, said John Burnett, the county's water resource specialist.
"What happens when we go to Spring Hill is totally different," Burnett said.
The next workshops will be announced soon, Hammond said. For more information on the flood map project, call Swiftmud at 796-7211.
On the Web
To find out more about the new flood maps, go to / www.swfwmd.state.fl.us and click on the "Federal Flood Map Updates" link. To find out about the National Flood Insurance Program, go to www.floodsmart.gov.
Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.
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