Countywide : Prado Dam Delay Also Stalls Insurance Relief

By 1999, when the $1.3-billion Santa Ana River project is set to be completed, flood insurance for homeowners could become a thing of the past, a county official said this week.

Herbert I. Nakasone, manager of flood programs for Orange County, said at Thursday’s Mayor’s Breakfast in Fountain Valley that homeowners may get a reduction in flood insurance rates as soon as 1997, when the Seven Oaks Dam will be about halfway complete.

When the entire river project is finished at the turn of the century, Nakasone said, Orange County cities will be protected from the river’s so-called 100-year flood threat.

As a result of the county’s bankruptcy, however, work on the Prado Dam portion of the project and upgrades to flood-control channels have been delayed by a shortage of funds, Nakasone said.

Because Orange County is the main beneficiary of the improvements, it is paying for Prado Dam rights-of-way, estimated to cost more than $200 million, he said.

Fountain Valley Councilman John Collins expressed concern that the delay of Prado Dam improvements means that residents of Fountain Valley could end up paying for flood insurance beyond 1999 because most of the city lies within the flood plain.

“If Prado Dam is done later than expected, everybody is going to pay more for insurance, and they shouldn’t have to,” Collins said. “Here’s another case of where the bankruptcy will be costing the homeowner.”