Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.
Nearly 200 homes in Las Vegas will no longer be located within a flood hazard area and, as a result, their owners may be able to forgo flood insurance.
Latest Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Rate Map revisions indicate that about 192 homes in Las Vegas are no longer designated within a 100-year special flood hazard area.
The homes are on 90 acres of property between Bradley Road and Decatur Boulevard north of Gowan Road in the Las Vegas city limits. With the map revision, some property owners in the area may now have the option of carrying flood insurance as a choice rather than a requirement.
Two buildings, however, were added to that flood area by FEMA, the regulatory agency that oversees the National Flood Insurance program.
This is the fifth major revision to the flood insurance rate maps since 1995. In August of that year, about 6,500 parcels were designated in FEMA's 100-year flood zone. Today, that number has been reduced to about 1,800 parcels.
The latest reduction is a result of the Regional Flood Control District's master plan and financial support from the quarter-cent sales tax increase, the city of Las Vegas Public Works Department says.
The city's recent construction of flood control facilities includes the Washington Avenue conveyance system, the Kyle Canyon, Carey/Lake Mead and Gowan detention basins and the Craig Road storm drain.
Las Vegas ranks among the top 10 percent of cities in the United States on the FEMA Community Rating System, which has resulted in a 15-percent reduction in flood insurance rates for owners of property within the city limits.
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