Homeowners forced to buy flood insurance after FEMA redraws maps

Updates in the FEMA Flood Map Program are being met with resistance from tens of thousands of Southern California residents now being forced to buy flood insurance coverage.

The federal government has informed property owners in more than 150 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties about the new requirement. Most live near rivers and creeks, below dams or in low- lying areas that are at greater risk of flooding than previously believed, according to updated maps developed by FEMA. READ MORE

To find out if your home is in a 100-year-storm flood plain and subject to the insurance mandate, go to: www.floodsmart.gov

HAZUS Training at Loma Linda University

HAZUS Comprehensive Data Management Worksop at Loma Linda University

November 16-18 / There are a few seats left.

The course cost is $495 to cover course instruction, materials and lab fee.

MORE INFO / REGISTRATION

SoCalHUG Summer 2009 Quarterly Meeting

When: Thursday / September 24, 2009 / 1:00PM - 3:30PM

Where: City of Riverside EOC - 3085 St Lawrence St., Riverside, CA, 92504 ... for directions scroll down

On-Line: Can't attend the SoCalHUG ? ... compliments of HAZUS.org the meeting will be online, CLICK HERE ... HAZUS.org would like to thank Adobe for the donation of a demo account for Acrobat Connect Pro


AGENDA ...

1:00 Liz Wojdak, SoCalHUG Leader, "Welcome and introductions"

1:20 Philip McCormick, Riverside City Fire OEM "Moving up to Level II Data for a Large City – The time and effort involved”

1:45 Hope Seligson, MMI Inc.“Inventory Database Enhancements in FEMA’s Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino County HAZUS Pilot Studies”

2:05 Break

2:20 Margaret Vinci, Office of Earthquake Programs Caltech, "Earthquake Tools for Quick Response"

2:50 Michael McDaniel, City of El Segundo, “Free HAZUS Training at EMI – Do’s and Don’ts”

3:10 Liz Wojdak, SoCalHUG Leader "HAZUS updates and the Great California Shakeout news"

3:30 adjourn

DIRECTIONS:

From areas West - LA/Orange County/Etc

EB 60 Fwy or 10 Fwy to the 15 Fwy

SB 15 to the 91 Fwy

EB 91 Fwy to Adams

Right on Adams

Adams to Lincoln – 1st Signal past the RR tracks

Left on Lincoln

Lincoln to Saint Lawrence – 1st street on your left (CHP Office on the right – Entrance to Corp Yard on the left)

Left on Saint Lawrence – Go to the dead-end of the street

Turn right into the brick building fenced parking lot.



From areas South – San Diego/Etc

NB on the 15 Fwy

EB 91 Fwy to Adams

Right on Adams

Left on Lincoln

Lincoln to Saint Lawrence – 1st street on your left (CHP Office on the right – Entrance to Corp Yard on the left)

Left on Saint Lawrence – Go to the dead-end of the street

Turn right into the brick building fenced parking lot.

Rock & Roll

A light earthquake occurred at 8:39:36 PM (PDT) on Sunday, May 17, 2009. The magnitude 4.7 event occurred 1 mile ESE of Lennox, CA. The hypocentral depth is 9 miles.

USGS Real-time Earthquake Map for Los Angeles region, VIEW

GIS Called Key to California's Future

To successfully integrate comprehensive GIS solutions across state agencies, an enterprise GIS strategy, coupled with strong executive leadership, was deemed California's best hope for dismantling state IT silos and facilitating cross-agency data sharing at the Conference on California's Future. Also vital to the mission is getting the public to better understand the role GIS can play in the state's success. READ MORE

California Appoints Geospatial Information Officer

California now has a Geospatial Information Officer, GIO. The CA GIO is responsible for ensuring that the state receives the benefits associated with geospatial data, specifically, increased data access and sharing; reduced duplication and costs; development of technology standards; centers of expertise; public outreach and increased collaboration in state and local governments. READ MORE

California's water supply vulnerable to quakes, floods

The California Department of Water Resources has just released a study that concludes there is a 40 percent chance that a major earthquake will flood 27 delta islands between now and 2030, costing billions in repairs and knocking out the water source for 25 million Californians for more than a year.

Without intervention, it is estimated that about 140 levees of California's could fail in the next century due to storms or rising seas. An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater could result in fatalities, flooding of islands and costs of $15 billion. In California levees have failed about 160 times in the past 109 years. READ MORE

California Department of Water Resources: Delta Risk Management Strategy - Final Phase 1 Report