Maps detail flood plain changes

Revamped, digitized maps of Kane County outline areas prone to flooding and could help homeowners determine whether they need to buy flood insurance.

Using satellite technology, the new images are part of a five-year, $1 billion overhaul of the nationwide flood insurance program to better aid homeowners and communities in assessing their flood risk.

The improved maps, which state and federal officials unveiled Wednesday also detail shifts in Kane County's flood plains, which could surprise some homeowners who learn their property is now at risk.

"From an insurance perspective, some people's lives are going to change," said Steve Super, South Elgin's director of community development. "They're going to need to get flood insurance."

Details on the new flood plain maps were explained in two sessions Wednesday: one for city officials and another for the public.

After seeing two homes destroyed and about 50 others damaged in flooding at the end of summer, South Elgin is a village with a stake in the revised flood plain maps.

And with a swath pegged for its downtown redevelopment split by the Fox River, village officials are interested in changes in the flood plain on both sides of the river, Super said.

The revised maps are primarily to help calculate their risk and need for home flood insurance, but also help to determine grants for disaster relief, said Shelly Fuller, with Illinois' Department of Natural Resources.

The final details of the revised flood plain maps are in progress and could be complete next fall, Fuller said.

The flood plain maps can be viewed by the public online at www.illinoisfloodmaps.org. Information in the mapping program can be found at http://dnr.state.il.us/Flood.