Manhattan, Riley County, and Pottawatomie County officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will host the Big Blue River Flood Mitigation Open House from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, at Manhattan Fire Station Headquarters, 2000 Denison Ave.
The open house is part of the Big Blue River Silver Jacket Project to research and develop a management plan to lessen the flood risks for property owners, residents and business owners along the Big Blue River.
“There is a significant risk of flooding along the Big Blue River. The Big Blue River Floodplain Management Plan will give the local, state and federal officials a detailed playbook on how to lessen the risk of flooding for these properties,” said Chad Bunger, Senior Planner for the City of Manhattan.
A significant portion of the floodplain management plan will be to create mitigation options including structural changes that will elevate or floodproof living spaces of a home and public spaces of a business or site improvements to protect property from flood waters, all of which are designed to decrease damages from flooding and could lessen the cost of flood insurance premiums.
At the open house, Randy Behm, the Chief of Flood Risk and Floodplain Management Section of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, will present information on options that property owners can undertake to decrease the chance of damages from a flood to their house or business. Behm is the chairman of the Corps’ National Nonstructural Flood Proofing Committee, which advocates for a complete set of tools and techniques to reduce flood damages. The information that Behm will present will be directly applicable to property owners, residents and business owners in high-risk flood areas.
Local officials and staff members from USACE will also seek input from open house participants on which flood damage reduction options and strategies should be researched further for the Big Blue River Floodplain Management Plan.
For more information please visit www.knowyourfloodriskMHK.com, or follow Know Your Flood Risk MHK on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date on the Big Blue River Project.
