Missoula County and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation will host an open house for the public Thursday, March 18 to review the new FEMA Clearwater River preliminary floodplain maps. The virtual open house will take place from 6 -7:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Anyone interested in attending the open house can register online at http://bit.ly/ClearwaterOH.
At the open house, staff will provide an overview of the preliminary maps, discuss proposed changes and answer questions about flood insurance, mapping and regulations. The preliminary floodplain maps must undergo a public review process before being finalized. The maps are available for review online at floodplain.mt.gov/clearwater.
The new floodplain studies use high-accuracy topographic information, updated hydrology data and modern engineering methods to model and map flood risk areas. The preliminary floodplain maps show the extent of the 100-year floodplain, representing areas at risk of being flooded in a 100 year-flood event, also known as a flood event, that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year. The current Clearwater River maps are based on data collected in the 1970s.
Missoula County, the Montana DNRC and FEMA have partnered on this project to provide reliable and more detailed and accurate information to help guide future development in flood-prone areas.
For more information contact: Todd Klietz, Missoula County floodplain administrator, tklietz@missoulacounty.us or Nadene Wadsworth, DNRC floodplain outreach specialist, nadene.wadsworth@mt.gov, 406-444-6732.
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