Yelm City Council voted to unanimously adopt the updated flood damage prevention plan at a meeting, Oct. 24.
Cody Colt, Yelm Public Works director, said every few years FEMA comes out with new floodplain ordinances, and the city must adopt them to keep flood insurance intact within the City of Yelm.
“It’s all required by the federal government. If not adopted, we’ll be ineligible for flood insurance throughout the area; new insurance policies cannot be sold; and existing policies cannot be renewed,” Colt said. “Everyone would lose their flood insurance if we didn’t adopt this.”
Colt added it wouldn’t be just the City of Yelm losing its flood insurance if not adopted, but home and business owners as well, making the approval of the adoption of importance.
When asked, Colt said “surprisingly quite a bit” of property within city limits is in a flood zone due to the canal, Yelm Creek and Thompson Creek being designated as flood zones.
The need for an updated Flood Damage Prevention ordinance, codified as Chapter 18.19 in Yelm’s Municipal Code, aims to replace existing and outdated provisions and to comply with minimum National Flood Insurance regulations. The updated ordinance follows FEMA’s Washington model ordinance closely.
