At last week’s City Council meeting, Councilor-at-Large Jon Turco shared some information about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps, which he mentioned “we’re all concerned about.”
He first pointed Peabody residents to “an interesting article” by Jordan Wolman of the CommonWealth Beacon, which was titled “New FEMA flood maps prompt questions, concerns across Massachusetts.” In the article, Peabody’s Director of Planning and Community Development Curt Bellavance was interviewed.
Turco added, “Also, on the City website, there are two different documents posted about the process of being added to the FEMA flood map and also about what’s called the LOMA, the Letter of Map Amendment, which is a way for residents to apply to be removed from the FEMA flood zone. It’s not a guaranteed way to do it, but there is a method that residents can follow.”
He wrapped up his comments by sharing that “we are still working on getting a representative from FEMA to speak before the Council on this.” Turco said he had spoken to a representative from Rep. Seth Moulton’s office and that “as you all know, with the government shutdown, it would be difficult to get somebody to come here until that’s been resolved.”
He added, “Hopefully some time in November we can get somebody before us.”
