The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be in the San Juans July 14-18 to assess local shorelines in an effort to develop more accurate local coastal flood insurance maps for San Juan County.

According to FEMA, field work for assessment of the shorelines may include fly-overs of the waterfront, walking of “coastal” areas, collecting sand samples, taking measurements and photographs, and examining coastal structures.

Fly-overs would be conducted at an elevation of 300 feet or more, and contract field personnel will carry identification and a letter explaining their work, and private property will not be accessed without permission of an owner.

As of today, San Juan County lacks specified flood elevations in FEMA flood insurance rate maps. Information collected in the upcoming field work is intended to ensure that the agency’s map modeling will more accurately reflect conditions on the ground. Property owners building in a designated flood-zone area  are required to derive flood elevations on their own.

The new analysis is intended to establish flood elevations for the county’s entire coastline and, according to FEMA, provide more accurate information to property owners, local governments and the flood insurance program.

For more detail, visit, www.fema.gov/coastal-flood-risk-study-process.

Contact FEMA’s Ted (Dwight) Perkins, 425-487-4684, with questions or concerns about the local field work, or by email at, dwight.perkins@fema.dhs.gov