Columbia Section

Dear Columbia Section members and supporters!

Attached are slides from our May meeting's discussion of recent FEMA flood map updates as well as a quarterly report provided for our unformation.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Columbia Section.

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Tatiana Skadorwa P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer, PE
Kennewick WA
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A Project Quarterly Report provides an overview of the ongoing flood study update including recent activity, project history, major milestones and deliverables, and project resources.

Introduction

My name is Keith Botchie, and I am part of the Benton County, Washington Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) Project Team, working with the Strategic Alliance for Risk Reduction (STARR II), a contractor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This email is being sent to you as a status update for work completed on this project as of April 30, 2026, and includes the overall progress to date, any scope/schedule changes (if applicable), and a detailed overview of the technical tasks associated with the study.

To ensure these status updates are sent directly to your inbox, please add the email domain “@starr-team.com” to your approved senders list.

Recent Activity

The statutory 90-day appeal period officially concluded on March 17, 2026. Two (2) comments from residents in the cities of Kennewick and Benton City were received. Comment resolution letters were distributed on April 30, 2026, which did not result in any changes to the updated mapping,

Next Steps

Map adoption of preliminary products will be subject to funding availability and program prioritization. If funding is prioritized, a subsequent Quarterly Update will be distributed to provide an updated project timeline including map adoption and effective dates of the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and Flood Insurance Study (FIS). 

Project History

The State of Washington identified Benton County, Washington as a priority for FEMA's Risk MAP program. The State determines its priorities based on population at risk to hazards, recent events, and community interest.

Flood studies encompass four key areas:

Discovery and Scoping

FEMA, State, and local stakeholders participated in a Risk MAP Discovery Meeting which was held June 2016, where community concerns were identified. These concerns were captured in the Risk MAP Discovery Report and delivered to the communities in the project area. After the Discovery Meeting, community concerns were researched and analyzed to develop a scope of work that includes a suite of flood risk products and updates to the communities' regulatory flood maps.

Data Development

Engineering analysis was performed on the scoped streams to identify the flood risk. Draft products were released in December 2023 and presented to all stakeholders at the Flood Risk Review (FRR) Meeting, which was held on February 15, 2024. Following the FRR Meeting, a resolution to draft comments were made in April 2024.

Flood Risk Products to augment the ongoing flood study were released in March 2025. These supplemental products are useful for adding context to the mapping and can also be readily leveraged to support mitigation grant applications and/or other local resiliency efforts. Key Products include Water Surface Elevation Grids and Flood Depth Grids. Water Surface Elevation Grids provide point-and-click flood elevations for mapped flood frequencies and can support planning and permitting decision-making. Flood Depth Grids illustrate the depth of flooding for a given frequency and can support outreach and emergency planning.

Preliminary

This phase is intended to develop preliminary flood risk information for the public. Preliminary materials including Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), FIRM Database, Flood Insurance Study (FIS) Report, and Summary of Map Actions (SOMA) were issued on May 15, 2025.

• The FIRM is the official map on which FEMA has delineated the Special Flood Hazard Area, Base Flood Elevations, and the flood risk zones applicable to the community.
• The FIRM Database captures spatial and tabular data related to the flood study update.
• The FIS Report contains detailed flood profiles and data tables on the hydrologic and hydraulic study.
• The SOMA is a comprehensive list of previously issued Letters of Map Changes (LOMCs), which provides a preliminary assessment of which LOMCs may still be valid after the new maps become effective.

Post-Preliminary

The Consultation Coordination Officers (CCO) Meeting was held virtually on July 9, 2025. The Flood Risk Open Houses were held in-person on September 9, 2025, in Benton City and September 10, 2025, in the City of Richland. The appeal period began on December 17, 2025, and ended on March 17, 2026. Two (2) comments were received, and comment resolution letters were distributed on April 30, 2026.

Map adoption of preliminary products will be subject to funding availability and program prioritization. If funding is prioritized, a subsequent Quarterly Update will be distributed to provide an updated project timeline including map adoption and effective dates of the FIRM and FIS.

Project Milestones and Deliverables

Subject to funding availability and program prioritization.

Resources and General Information

For additional information on this project, please refer to the following links:

FEMA GeoPlatform: Benton County, Washington - Risk MAP Portfolio - Overview

Project Deliverables**: Benton County, Washington - Risk MAP Project Deliverables (starr-team.com)

**If you have trouble downloading or are prompted for credentials when clicking the file name on the website, cancel the prompt and instead right-click the file name and choose "Save As" or "Save Target As".

If you have any questions about this Risk MAP project, please contact FEMA Region 10 Lead Project Monitor and Risk Analyst Chris Bryant (christopher.bryant@....gov, (425) 492-4580) or FEMA Region 10 Regional Engineer Soumya Sagarika (soumya.sagarika@..., (425) 420-7942).

The STARR II Region 10 Help Desk is another resource available to answer project-related questions. STARR II staff will route and research your question and respond within three business days. Submit your questions via email, the address is RegionXHelpDesk@....

If you want to keep up with what’s happening around Region 10, get project status updates, or learn about upcoming events and training opportunities, subscribe to the Region 10 monthly newsletter. For more information or to subscribe, email rxnewsletter@....

Current and past issues of the newsletter, project status updates, announcements, upcoming events, and training opportunities are also available online at the STARR II website, www.starr-team.com.

I hope you found this status update email helpful. If you would like to be removed from the distribution list, or if you feel there is someone that should be added to the list, please reply to this email. If you have any questions, or if there is information that you would like to see in future updates, please feel free to contact me by phone or email. My contact information is below.

Sincerely,

Keith Botchie, CFM
Project Manager/Senior GIS Analyst II
STARR II – Strategic Alliance for Risk Reduction
3901 Calverton Blvd., Calverton, MD 20705 | Tel: (240) 264-8022
Email: Keith.Botchie@... | Web: www.starr-team.com

Attachment(s)

FEMA_RX_PPP_CCO_Presentation_BentonCountyWA_2026.pdf   2.83 MB 1 version