FEMA re-analyzed Lake Michigan flooding along with other flood concern areas throughout Lake County and made revisions to the current effective Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report and the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM).
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is a FEMA program. FEMA regularly releases new flood map and data to provide communities access to helpful, authoritative data that can be used to make decisions about flood risk. FEMA can only make flood insurance available in those communities that agree to regulate future development in the floodplain. In order to remain eligible for flood insurance, the following Lake County communities must adopt the new FEMA maps by October 5:
- Beach Park
- Grayslake
- Gurnee
- Highland Park
- Lake Bluff
- Lake County Unincorporated
- Lake Forest
- Lake Villa
- Libertyville
- Lindenhurst
- North Chicago
- Old Mill Creek
- Round Lake Beach
- Round Lake Park
- Third Lake
- Wadsworth
- Waukegan
- Winthrop Harbor
- Zion
To remain in good standing with the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission is required to amend the Watershed Development Ordinance (WDO) to include the map revisions along with other WDO amendments for the new coastal floodplains along Lake Michigan. These FIRM revisions will appear in the updated Appendix C of the WDO. Information related to the Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study can be viewed here.