Emily Schemper, Director of Growth Management with Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
This is Flood Awareness Week.
Schemper said, “This week, March 9 through 15 is officially Monroe County Flood Awareness Week. It’s a statewide recognized effort by Florida Floodplain Managers Association to try to get people to think ahead about flood risks, flood insurance, make sure they’re taking whatever steps they can to protect their homes and families and have a plan in place before the actual hurricane season begins.”
What are some tips to be prepared?
Schemper said, “You want to take this opportunity to double check that your flood insurance is in place, make sure that premium got paid. There’s a tax holiday for certain disaster related supplies, things like batteries, portable generators. Last year that actually changed, and I think now all of those are always tax free, now year round. So you can look into that. There’s a list of those available online as well. That’s a state wide issue, and it will list the different items that you can get, even things like tarps and stuff that you can have on hand beforehand. So those are some of the things that you can do. And also just being aware, especially now that we have the change to that downstairs enclosure rule, and people are going to start enclosing more of their downstairs space for storage. Just remember, it’s really just for storage, and the reason for that is because there is still a risk that that area will flood. So just because it’s enclosed doesn’t mean your most expensive belongings should be kept down there. Make sure it’s limited storage. Things that if they possibly get wet, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t put all your important documents down there, things like that.”
There are also FEMA flood maps available to help people understand the risks in each neighborhood.
Schemper said, “If you’re planning to build something on your property, put on an addition, or purchase a new home or even vacant parcel, it’s really important that you do that background research before you begin and invest any money in that project. So make sure you know what the flood zone is. Make sure you know how high you would have to elevate things. It will affect your insurance rates as well. At the Board of County Commissioners meeting tomorrow, FIRM, the Fair Insurance Rates for Monroe, that organization is actually giving a presentation about what they’ve been working on over the last year and what their thoughts are on insurance rates this coming year. So that’s something that would be good to tune into as well and see what they have found out, see what they’re thinking for the next year. But yes, it’s important to do all that background research. Know if you’re buying a property on a street that floods regularly as well. So we have that information now as well. We have the road vulnerability assessment. There’s a lot of background research you can do before you start investing in either purchasing property or embarking on a building project.”
There will also be virtual public meetings to provide residents with an update on the county’s canal restoration program on Thursday March 19.
Schemper said, “Those are really in Rhonda Haag’s resilience office. But there are three items on the agenda, and those actually have time approximate they’re going to have them earlier in the morning. So 9:45 and 10 o’clock are the time slots for those items. So if you want to hear the updates on one is actually about the county’s community rating system. So I am involved in that, but this is specifically about the watershed master plan that they’re working on, and then two other items regarding roads and this potential for the municipal services benefit unit, the MASBU, option for funding certain types of projects. Those are scheduled for 9:45, and 10 o’clock tomorrow, they’re items, m1, 2 and 3.”
Flood mitigation involves a lot of different departments across the county.
Schemper said, “So my departments work with Division of Emergency Management, the Office of Floodplain Management. We work with them mostly on things like codes, regulations, requirements, making sure everything meets the federal requirements for National Flood Insurance Program, and also the state requirements. And now the Florida building code has a lot of the flood stuff in it directly as well. So any changes we try to make to our flood ordinances, we have to get that approved by the state, and they are also checking that it’s consistent with the federal rules. We also talk with FEMA regularly at the federal level. They actually are not doing much work at the moment because of the federal shutdown, but we’re hoping that we’ll be back online soon. We’re actually waiting on getting our community rating system re verification process. We’ve submitted our information for that, and we coordinate across many different departments, agencies, federal, state, local, etc.”
Could there be cutbacks in FEMA?
Schemper said, “Everything has been kind of quiet recently. So I have not heard much, but we will definitely provide updates as they are disseminated, from both federal and state agencies, but everything’s a little bit quiet right now, and it’s a lot of focus on the fact that things need to get back up and running in terms of general office work at FEMA.”
Don’t forget Alert Monroe will send notifications for anything important.
Schemper said, “If you go on the main county website, go to the Emergency Management page and you can sign up for Alert Monroe. That is the app that will send you notifications for any sort of emergency management notices about weather and other things. So go on the county website. You can sign up for alert Monroe, and that’s how you can get the current in the moment information.”
The BOCC meet tomorrow.
Schemper said it will be at the “Key Largo Murray Nelson Center. It begins at 9am again, those resilience projects are starting at 9:45 approximately. And then FIRM, Fair Insurance Rates for Monroe is giving a presentation.”
For more information, click here: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/