In another example of his concern about our nation’s river communities,U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) successfully passed an amendment in the House Financial Services Committee that would give river communities credit for the levees and flood control structures they already have in place.

Luetkemeyer’s amendment, attached to legislation extending and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), ensures that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) discontinues its use of the existing “without levees” analysis in determining new flood insurance rate maps.  Current FEMA policy assumes that a levee or other flood control structure that exists physically, but does not meet FEMA’s certification standards, does not exist for the purposes of flood map modeling. This leads to reduced precision of flood maps and diminished confidence in the mapping process itself.  It also drives up the cost for flood insurance, significantly impacting small and rural communities who are operating on limited funds and may not have the capital necessary to build entirely new flood control structures.

“As a strong advocate for the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and their related resources, I’m proud to author an amendment that ensures that our river communities get credit for the critical levees and other flood control structures that they already have in place,” Luetkemeyer said. “I personally heard from rural river communities that FEMA informed them that their levees were too short to meet FEMA certification standards and therefore didn’t exist, and this is unacceptable.”

Luetkemeyer’s amendment was attached to the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011, which provides for a long-term reauthorization of the NFIP and includes important reforms to improve the program’s financial stability, reduce the burden on taxpayers, and provide avenues to increase private sector participation in the flood insurance market.

Luetkemeyer  currently serves as the second vice president of the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association, furthering his ability to serve as a critical voice for Missouri’s river communities on national issues including flood control, bank stabilization, navigation, and major drainage problems. The Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association is made up of levee and drainage districts, harbor and port commissions, states, cities and towns, and other agencies and individuals from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

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