Sacramento has a new proposal on what to do about homes built in violation of federal rules in the high-risk flood zone of the Natomas basin. It doesn’t pass the laugh test.
The city proposes to paint sealant on 10 illegally built homes to make the walls watertight up to 5 feet and have temporary shields available to install on doors and windows.
The problems with this proposal are numerous. The Army Corps of Engineers considers the “seal and shield” method to be practical only where “flood depths are low (no more than 2 to 3 feet).” Why? Because of water pressure on walls and from underneath the foundation, “walls may collapse, floors may buckle, and the home may even float.”
Further, painting on sealant up to 5 feet has no relation to actual flood depths expected in the Natomas basin. With a levee breach, a flood would put the basin under 20 to 25 feet of water.
For obvious reasons, the “seal and shield” solution does nothing to reduce flood insurance premiums. In the high-risk Natomas AE zone, the city estimates it would cost about $87,500 a year for premiums. The city is proposing that the builder take out private insurance for nine of the 10 homes that are occupied.
The other option is to elevate the homes about 16 feet – dropping the cost of insurance premiums to $400 a year.
The cost to “seal and shield” the 10 homes would be about $12,400 per house; elevating them would cost about $285,500.
A cheaper solution, not considered in the city’s report to FEMA, might be for city and builder to work out a deal to buy back the nine occupied houses (which ranged in price from $249,000 to $302,500), sealing the unoccupied homes until levee upgrades are done.
It should be the city and the builder who bear the burden of the violations, not the homebuyers. The city says it has fixed the building permit process to prevent future violations in the flood zone. Now it needs to find the right solution for the people living in nine houses that never should have been built. These folks deserve something better than a “seal and shield” fiction.