Several Palmerton residents are fed up with the amount of money they pay for flood insurance.

One such individual is Raberta Hans, who expressed her frustrations with borough council on Thursday.Hans, who lives at 435 Franklin Ave., said she believes she pays entirely too much for flood insurance.A floodplain, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is any land area susceptible to being inundated by floodwaters from any source.Hans said there are several homes in her neighborhood that are for sale but haven't sold because of the cost of flood insurance.She said there are several homes nearby that residents walked away from because they couldn't afford their flood insurance.Hans suggested to council that they need to contact FEMA to have them come take a look at the situation.Otherwise, she said, "you're going to have a neighborhood of abandoned homes."Hans pleaded with council for help, or she'll be leaving as well."We're stuck there," Hans said. "Some of these people have been here for decades."Andrew Jordan, who lives at 440 Franklin Ave., also expressed concerns."My concern is that the neighborhood is changing," he said. "You have more vacant homes here than you ever did."Councilman Kris Hoffner asked when the last time a re-evaluation of neighboring Park Creek was conducted.Borough Manager Rodger Danielson said it was sometime in the early-2000s.Hoffner said, "that's not fair to you people."Hans urged council to have FEMA recalculate the rate of rain and how much water the creek can handle.Councilman Richard Nothstein asked if the borough could contact local senators and representatives to assist with the situation.Hans said the problem is that "there's such a discrepancy in the homes that have never flooded to the homes that have."Danielson said the borough can call to ask if there is any way FEMA can change the zone.Also on Thursday, Danielson announced that what was originally believed to be water leaks in the borough turned out not to be the case after all.Danielson said a new well pump has been installed in the West End portion of the borough.The problem, he said, was that the old well pump in that area was pumping longer, but not pumping at full rate."It was a pump problem, not a leak problem," he said. "So, that's been corrected now."In March, Danielson urged residents who suspected water leaks to notify the borough office.