The City of Sioux Falls plans to schedule a City Council vote on floodplain ordinance amendments on Monday, August 3, 2009, at Carnegie Town Hall located at 235 West Tenth Street in Sioux Falls.

The amendments include adopting the new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), as well as regulations to minimize public expenditures due to flood control, minimize damage to facilities, provide for the sound use and development of flood-prone areas, and to notify potential owners of flood areas. This is the same information that has been available to the public since October 15, 2007. Council action on the FIRM is required by federal law.

Property owners within these new floodplain boundaries, as well as owners in general, should evaluate the risk of flooding to their structures. The City of Sioux Falls cannot take responsibility for determining the insurance needs of your structure; therefore, owners (in most cases, the lender) must make those determinations. Flood insurance is required by law for structures in high-risk flood areas as a condition of receiving a mortgage from a federally regulated or insured lender. Insurance policies at the lower premium rates can be "grandfathered" in, if purchased 30 days prior to the September 2, 2009, adoption date.

Flooding occurs in low-to-moderate risk areas, as well as in high-risk areas. Poor drainage systems, rapid accumulation of rainfall, snowmelt, and failed protective devices such as levees and dams can all result in flooding. Almost 25 percent of all flood insurance claims come from areas with low-to-moderate flood risk.

A March 2, 2009, letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the City of Sioux Falls provided a six-month window for the City to adopt the new FIRM and associated regulations. The letter warns that communities that do not enact the regulations will not be included in the National Floodplain Insurance Program, nor will they be eligible for disaster assistance. Thus, the City Council must enact the new flood map by September 2, 2009.