Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) Success Stories
Flood Control District of Maricopa County (FCDMC)
The FCDMC became a CTP in September of 2001. With a population of 3.4 million and a span of 9,200 square miles, this county has experienced recent and rapid development. FCDMC is responsible for floodplain management for the unincorporated areas of the county and for 12 (of 24) of the incorporated communities. Being heavily involved in the county's floodplain management activities, FCDMC recognized the need to update the maps to reflect impacts from development. They also had the technical and fiscal resources to be able to partner with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
With a capable and experienced Geographic Information System (GIS) staff, FCDMC has developed and maintained a local floodplain layer. The county has undertaken its own flood control projects such as channelizations, creating retention basins, and constructing flood-retarding structures in addition to funding some of their own flood studies. FCDMC also collaborated with the local flood control district, tax assessor's office, and other agencies in developing orthophotos for the entire county.
FEMA entered into a partnership with FCDMC to update the 265 Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) panels and 16 volumes of Flood Insurance Study (FIS) Reports. The project included replacing the vector base map with the orthophoto and incorporating almost 100 Letters of Map Revisions into the new FIRM panels. When complete, there were 307 FIRM panels and 17 FIS volumes, including 200 pages of Floodway Data Tables and 1,200 pages of profiles.
FCDMC's staff played a huge role in the re-mapping process. The District not only supplied the orthophotos for the base maps, but they also developed a series of programs to automate the development of the FIRM panels. The floodplain information was initially stored in the District's GIS system then transferred to FEMA's database format at the end of the project. FCDMC scanned the FIS reports, and an OCR program was used to turn the text portions into a document that was then edited. The District's GIS staff responded quickly and effectively to FEMA's quality review contractor, thereby enabling the process to stay on schedule. The District also handled the distribution of the Preliminary FIRM panels and FIS Reports to the communities for review and comment.
Because of FCDMC's commitment to the project and their very capable staff, they anticipate that their new FIRMs will become effective on September 30, 2005. Tim Murphy, FCDMC's Floodplain Branch Manager expressed that overall, the District is very happy with the partnership that they have with FEMA and would be interested in participating in future updates.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 13-May-2008 10:18:36 EDT