O.C. Safe From Flood, U.S. Says

Federal engineers ruled Thursday that the Orange County homes and businesses in the vast Santa Ana River flood plain are no longer threatened by the 100-year flood, a decision that could lead to the elimination of $12 million in annual flood insurance premiums.

The formal action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is perhaps the most significant sign yet that the $1.3-billion campaign to protect thousands of Orange County property owners from devastating floods is working.

The corps’ decision acts as a recommendation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is expected to approve it within eight months. FEMA’s action will eliminate the need for flood insurance for 30,000 homeowners and more than 10,000 businesses.

FEMA’s mandatory insurance now costs property owners $200 to $600 a year, county officials said. FEMA officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

Thursday’s decision also could lead to a reduction in insurance premiums to homeowners and business owners in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In Orange County, the flood plain stretches from Anaheim through Fountain Valley to Huntington Beach, and includes parts of Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Orange and Westminster.

“This has been a long time coming for residents of Orange County,” said Herbert I. Nakasone, a manager of Orange County’s flood control planning.

“This certainly saves the consumers a lot in insurance premiums. Plus, it provides the protection we’ve been seeking for a number of years,” he said. “Wecan feel a lot safer when we have these major storm events.”

Although the Santa Ana’s flow is paltry in the dry season, it carries potentially catastrophic swells during rainy spells, making the region one of the most vulnerable flood plains west of the Mississippi.

Settlers in the late 1800s wrote of rowing boats from Newport Beach to Santa Ana. A flood in 1938 knocked out nearly every bridge in Orange County, submerged the north end of the county and killed dozens of people. Today, a flood of that size could cause $26 billion in damage.

Before World War II, the federal government began building dams along the Santa Ana River, which runs from the mountains in San Bernardino County to the ocean. The Prado Dam, built in 1941, offered enough protection to urbanize Orange County but still left thousands of residents exposed to floods.

Today, most homeowners and business owners in the flood plain are required to buy flood insurance if their mortgages are held by federally insured institutions.

This fall, however, the Army Corps completed the $250-million, 550-foot-high Seven Oaks Dam in San Bernardino County. Although a pending environmental lawsuit is delaying full operation, officials can close the dam’s gates in heavy rains.

Other construction also is part of the Santa Ana River flood-control project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2006. The walls of the Prado Dam in Riverside County, for instance, will be raised, increasing its storage capacity at least 50%.

With flood-control efforts half completed in 1996, FEMA cut flood insurance rates in the region at least in half. The annual insurance premium on a $150,000 home dropped from $690 to $326.

The Seven Oaks Dam is designed to protect Orange County against a flood that is so large it would hit only once in a century.

“We can live without the fear of this 100-year flood and eliminate the rest of the flood insurance mandate for thousands of Orange County residents,” said U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), whose district includes much of the flood plain. “This will save hundreds of dollars for tens of thousands of households.”

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Residents in some areas of Orange County, like the wetlands areas of Huntington Beach, may still have to pay some flood insurance after FEMA makes the final decision, officials said.

FEMA is the sole provider of flood insurance. The agency contracts with insurance companies to collect premiums, write policies and manage claims. In exchange, the insurance companies receive a commission of less than 10%.

As part of further flood-control plans, Orange County wants to buy patches of land, now filled with golf courses, dairy farms and homes, behind the Prado Dam, Supervisor Jim Silva said Thursday.

The area would be used as a catch basin for rainfall and would protect Orange County from a 200-year flood. That wouldn’t likely lower anyone’s insurance, but it would provide more peace of mind, Silva said.

“It is great to know that the people of Orange County will no longer have to pay that heavy insurance,” he said. “But our work is still ahead of us.”

Times staff writer Marc Ballon contributed to this report.