FEMA launches hazard assessment project

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Federal Emergency Management Agency's effort to prepare the area for future floods begins Tuesday in Cedar Rapids.

“The focus is now on truly identifying risk and helping to mitigate it and deal with it,” said Ginger Dadds, FEMA project manager. “We're trying to discover what information the community has to better identify risk.”

The first meeting for the mapping project will be from 3 to 7 p.m. at Kennedy High School, 4545 Wenig Rd. NE. Dadds said there will be several more public meetings throughout the project, which may run through fall 2013.

Dubbed Risk MAP (for “Mapping, Assessment and Planning”) the project will produce digital models and other tools as well as maps. The effort starts with a review of maps showing known flood hazards.

“We know they've been remapped, but if people feel the maps aren't accurate, we want to identify those areas,” Dadds said.