Why the Tsunami Zone should be the least of your worries in choosing a location.

[Cloudy Dayz]

So you want to move to the Oregon Coast, and want a nice safe location out of the Tsunami Zone to protect you from that once in a 500 year tsunami? You might end up with way bigger flood problems then that. Like having to drive through flood waters for six months out of the year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRL9sEM4hRw

[karlsch]

Is this a new problem or was the subdivision built in a wetland area? Who are the "they" that she refers to? I don't see how it's anything FEMA would be involved with.

[Silverfall]

I'm not surprised. Florence is growing fast and often builders force water to other areas when they develop. I know they have required rain detention basins in all new subdivisions for about a decade in Salem to prevent this issue. This is a city development code issue not keeping up with climate/soils and development. FEMA isn't going to do anything and it isn't their job to do anything about it.

Salem actually just got a CRS (Community Rating System) of 3 for flood management/drainage. 1 is the best, 10 is the worst. Florence doesn't participate in the FEMA CRS program. It is voluntary but residents get steep discounts for flood insurance. This current level gives Salem residents a 35% discount.

People moving to places where they are worried about it can look up a city's CRS number to see if that city is invested in flood prevention.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Is this a new problem or was the subdivision built in a wetland area? Who are the "they" that she refers to? I don't see how it's anything FEMA would be involved with.

1. It's not a new problem. This is just normal life on the Oregon Coast in the rainy season. I always love looking the US Drought Map and seeing that my area is listed as D0 (Abnormally Dry) or even D1 (Moderate Drought) and then looking out the window and seeing my car sitting in 4 inches of standing water. It almost makes me wonder what level of drought it would take to dry this area out.

2. Who, I believe would be the City of Florence, or maybe Lane County.

3. I agree. I had to laugh when I heard her suggestion that FEMA should help. That is just wishful thinking.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I'm not surprised. Florence is growing fast and often builders force water to other areas when they develop. I know they have required rain detention basins in all new subdivisions for about a decade in Salem to prevent this issue. This is a city development code issue not keeping up with climate/soils and development. FEMA isn't going to do anything and it isn't their job to do anything about it.

Salem actually just got a CRS (Community Rating System) of 3 for flood management/drainage. 1 is the best, 10 is the worst. Florence doesn't participate in the FEMA CRS program. It is voluntary but residents get steep discounts for flood insurance. This current level gives Salem residents a 35% discount.

People moving to places where they are worried about it can look up a city's CRS number to see if that city is invested in flood prevention.

It looks like most small towns are entered at the county level. Lane County is 6. Douglas County gets a 10. Coos County doesn't have any rating but Bandon is listed at 10.

I think it would be a safe bet that anyplace on the west side of the Coastal Range would get a 10.

[texasdiver]

From the TV report they actually said the subdivision was built without the installation of any proper storm drainage. And a quick bit of research shows that it is covered by an HOA. https://hecetasouth.com/

So obviously these folks just need to buckle up and pass an HOA assessment to put in proper storm drainage. Which will mean tearing up their streets and installing storm drain pipes like they should have in the first place. Maybe it will cost every resident $20k or so. That's life.

It is an affluent private subdivision. Not anybody else's problem but their own.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

From the TV report they actually said the subdivision was built without the installation of any proper storm drainage. And a quick bit of research shows that it is covered by an HOA. https://hecetasouth.com/

So obviously these folks just need to buckle up and pass an HOA assessment to put in proper storm drainage. Which will mean tearing up their streets and installing storm drain pipes like they should have in the first place. Maybe it will cost every resident $20k or so. That's life.

It is an affluent private subdivision. Not anybody else's problem but their own.

I'm sure the HOA has discussed that, probably many times and has determined that it is not economically feasible. I'm not sure about your $20,000 estimate. A quick Google shows that a drainage system for a house can cost $13,000 - $15,000. That's just for the house, not an entire neighborhood. This project would have to be at least 2 miles long at probably $150 a foot. I would say $20,000 per homeowner would be the absolute minimum. It could cost double or triple that, or even more.

[Cloudy Dayz]

One thought about this. No matter where you are looking to buy a home, pay a lot of attention to the drainage. Don't even think about buying a house next to a river or creek, unless its way higher than the water. Even then pay attention to the slope of the property. I remember neighborhoods we lived in when I was a kid that had problems with flooding after thunderstorms. Some properties would flood all the time and others were fine. One house we lived in, even when the street flooded, our yard was above the water level. But the neighbors house next door was about a foot lower than our house and their yard was level with the street. After the thunderstorms their yard would have an inch or two of water in it, and they would be out with brooms sweeping the water away from their house. Worse though were the houses around the corner from that property on the side street. They would be flooded with a foot of water after every rain. For the fun of it we would ride our bikes down the sidewalk there through a foot of water. So just one foot of elevation difference can be the difference between frequent flooding and no flooding at all.

Personally if I was in the market for a house, I don't care how much I liked the property, unless it was on high ground with downslope in all directions, I wouldn't walk away from the deal, I would run away. It's just not worth it.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

I'm sure the HOA has discussed that, probably many times and has determined that it is not economically feasible. I'm not sure about your $20,000 estimate. A quick Google shows that a drainage system for a house can cost $13,000 - $15,000. That's just for the house, not an entire neighborhood. This project would have to be at least 2 miles long at probably $150 a foot. I would say $20,000 per homeowner would be the absolute minimum. It could cost double or triple that, or even more.

I just made up that number because it was about what new sewers cost in a different neighborhood I lived in a decade ago when they switched over from septic to sewers.

Either way, they can whine about it for the rest of their lives or fix it. It's their neighborhood. Normally a legit HOA can arrange financing in these sorts of situations where they can pay it off over 10 years or some such.

These are the sorts of costs that come with living in a hydrologically active zone like the coast. And the costs that come with poor regulation on the part of the municipality that allowed such a subdivision to get built in the first place without proper drainage.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

One thought about this. No matter where you are looking to buy a home, pay a lot of attention to the drainage. Don't even think about buying a house next to a river or creek, unless its way higher than the water. Even then pay attention to the slope of the property. I remember neighborhoods we lived in when I was a kid that had problems with flooding after thunderstorms. Some properties would flood all the time and others were fine. One house we lived in, even when the street flooded, our yard was above the water level. But the neighbors house next door was about a foot lower than our house and their yard was level with the street. After the thunderstorms their yard would have an inch or two of water in it, and they would be out with brooms sweeping the water away from their house. Worse though were the houses around the corner from that property on the side street. They would be flooded with a foot of water after every rain. For the fun of it we would ride our bikes down the sidewalk there through a foot of water. So just one foot of elevation difference can be the difference between frequent flooding and no flooding at all.

Personally if I was in the market for a house, I don't care how much I liked the property, unless it was on high ground with downslope in all directions, I wouldn't walk away from the deal, I would run away. It's just not worth it.

And it isn't just your individual home that you need to pay attention to. It is the whole neighborhood. If yours is the only house in the neighborhood that doesn't flood and the street to your property floods and is inaccessible then you have a problem too and your home will lose value even if water never touches it.