SENATOR COLLINS ANNOUNCES REVISED FEMA FLOOD MAP FOR PORTLAND WATERFRONT

U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the City of Portland have produced a revised flood insurance map for Portland Harbor. Senator Collins pressed the agency to work with the City to develop a new flood map that more accurately assessed the risk of flooding without burdening the city and its residents. The map originally proposed by FEMA in August 2009 would have virtually prohibited future building and renovations on Portland's waterfront, and would have raised insurance rates for property owners.

"This is good news for the City of Portland and the residents and businesses of its working waterfront," said Senator Collins. "I am pleased that City officials and FEMA have worked together to produce a flood map for Portland Harbor that reflects good science and effective collaboration. It is incredibly important that flood maps represent the actual risk of flooding in an area, and the intense discussions between the City of Portland and FEMA over the last several months have helped develop a map that does just that. This sort of collaboration is exactly the sort of relationship that FEMA must develop with states and local communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the hazards that confront our nation. As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee with jurisdiction over FEMA, I insisted that FEMA work cooperatively with the City, and I am delighted that my office was able to successfully resolve this important issue."