Holliston TM approves FEMA flood maps MetroWest Daily News
In its third night, Town Meeting last night approved the final two articles on its 38-article warrant, including one to adopt a new set of flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Many residents, particularly from the Lake Winthrop and Mudville neighborhoods, said the Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which were last updated by FEMA in 1982, subject residents whose homes aren't in danger of flooding to the undue burden of buying flood insurance.
The new maps, which go into effect June 4, have updated base maps with aerial photography and do not change the actual flood zones in town, said Eric Carlson, an engineer with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
But residents in the affected area said the current maps are flawed and those mistakes are continued in the new maps.
"FEMA has erroneously mapped the flood elevation in the Lake Winthrop and Mudville areas, causing some residents to have to buy flood insurance needlessly," said John Thomas, a Norfolk Lane resident. Thomas said the flood zone elevation levels in the Lake Winthrop area are far above those that would be reached in a 100-year flood.