Maps for the rest of the city are expected next month. While the expansion is striking, after Sandy, “it’s good to have a map like this, to be guided accordingly,” said Borough President Marty Markowitz.Īnd the maps - available on FEMA’s website - so far address only Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens and suburban Westchester County. In Brooklyn, for example, the Seagate, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach neighborhoods are now included alongside already designated areas like Coney Island.
Overall, the flood zones now cover 35,000 more homes and businesses, sweeping up more of the coastline and reaching farther inland. “Where are these people going to get the money from to raise their homes? And if they don’t raise their homes, then how are they going to get insurance? And if they can’t get insurance, what happens to their mortgage?” said Donovan, a construction manager. Under the new maps, Jim Donovan’s home in Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach neighborhood needs to be 11 feet above sea level to avoid flooding in the so-called “100-year” storm - one so strong it’s given a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year.ĭonovan, whose basement took on more than seven feet of water during Sandy, says he thinks his ground floor clears the 11-foot mark, but he’s concerned for neighbors whose homes sit lower. The maps represent one of the first concrete signals of how officials will carry out vows to rebuild smarter after Sandy and what that will mean for property owners. And for everyone else, he said, the information provides “time to think and plan what kind of changes they would want to make.” “What we’re trying to do is provide the means, immediately, for people who want to move forward now to be able to do so,” city Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said. They’re preliminary but will likely become a basis for changes to building laws and insurance requirements in coming years. Photo: Wikimedia/Daniel SchwenThe Federal Emergency Management Agency released the revised maps Monday. In Brooklyn, N.Y., Brighton Beach, shown above, is among the neighborhoods that are now included in the flood zones under new maps. Twice as many homes and businesses in and near New York City would be in flood zones under new maps that may force more property-owners to buy flood insurance, complicate post-Superstorm Sandy rebuilding for some and confront others with the choice of building higher or paying considerably more for insurance.
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