For residents in Palmerton who live within the high-risk flood zone, no relief is in sight from high flood insurance premiums.

Borough officials and residents alike have contacted the Federal Emergency Management Administration, but their voices have fallen on deaf ears."I'm officially underwater," said Raberta Hans, a resident in the 400 block of Franklin Avenue in Palmerton, and she wasn't talking about the liquid kind. Five years ago, her house on Franklin Avenue was appraised for $110,000. A neighbor's house recently sold for $45,000. "Every house in that lot is underwater. The people who are buying it are developers. It's not a homeowner community over there anymore."The area of such strong contention lies between Third and Fifth streets and Franklin Avenue. It was designated by FEMA as an AE or 1 percent annual chance flood plain, making it a Special Flood Hazard Area.The culprit lies in a little unnamed stream that starts as a spring near Princeton Avenue in Palmerton, flows down the hill and through the borough park. It empties into the Aquashicola Creek.Portions of Lafayette, Delaware and Lehigh avenues are also in the designated flood zone."Park Creek, as it is known, does start as a spring above Memorial Park," Palmerton Borough Manager Rodger Danielson said recently."A channel modification would not result in any significant change as flooding is not projected from stream flow, but rather backup water from the Aquashicola Creek and the Lehigh River."Kristen Obert, an associate broker with Hugh D. Dugan Real Estate in Palmerton, said she has seen contracts fall through when buyers discover the cost of flood insurance on and around Franklin Street. For example, if a house costs $60,000 and "that's all you can afford, a $1,000 (per year) for flood insurance is a lot of money."Selling houses in high-risk flood designated areas is a challenge as well. Obert said if a house is on the market for 90 days, then that turn-around is acceptable. She has seen houses in the flood zone be on the market for 437 days."If it's a really nice house, people might be willing to overlook the flood insurance," she said, "but not if the house is in need of a lot of work."Andy Jordan, a Franklin Avenue resident, asked borough council members in the fall if FEMA might be coming to Palmerton to look into the matter. He said the flood plain issue is driving down home prices, and told them about a house on Franklin that was originally on the market for about $116,000, but has since been dropped to $56,000."I'm hoping that FEMA will come in and see how ridiculous this is," Danielson said at a borough meeting. "Several letters have been submitted with some residents saying their rates actually went up."Determining flood plainAl Roe, president of Farmers Insurance in Palmerton, said the government used satellite images to help calculate elevation and adjust flood plain zones. Flood insurance first became available to residents in 1968 with the enaction of the National Flood Insurance Act. Roe said flood insurance rates are fixed by the federal government through the National Flood Insurance Program."No matter where you go, you should pay the same price," he said. The premium for the flood insurance depends on individual factors, including the risk of a flood to the house, contents coverage, and the amount of the mortgage.In order to keep costs down for homeowners, the government used to subsidized flood insurance premiums. When it stopped, insurance rates "went through the roof," Roe said.In 2012, the government passed the Bigger Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act. Roe said that because the government had used satellite imagery, it was requiring property owners within a flood plain to get an elevation certificate to verify their elevation. Anyone who didn't pay to have their property surveyed could see their premiums increase as much as 25 percent each year, he said.Due to public outcry, the government reinstated some of the subsidy to residents, but not to commercial properties. This is known as the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014. The requirement for an elevation certificate was dropped.Palmerton resident Hans said the elevation certificate actually made things worse for her."I recommend no one gets an elevation certificate," she said. Hans was told by FEMA that her "flood plain is worse than we thought."FEMA responseWill Powell, a FEMA spokesman in the Region III office in Philadelphia, said when a large stream and a tributary flowing into it are "experiencing high flows, there is backflow on the tributary as the water in the tributary cannot flow into the larger stream."The backflow data that is captured in the map is based on the 1 percent flood risk, not whether the backflow has actually occurred at the tributary," he said. "We have applied the best available information to the flood mapping model. If the borough has different topographical and stream study information available, they can submit a Letter of Map Revision to potentially amend the current map."The current Flood Insurance Rate Map became effective on June 3, 2002. The rates were put into effect following "an extensive scientific study of the area, public appeals period for any changes or better information regarding the floodplain and water flows, and notification to the community of both preliminary and effective map dates," Powell said.Palmerton Borough Manager Rodger Danielson told him the borough has asked state Rep. Matthew Cartwright to look into the matter with FEMA.Council member Kris Hoffner added, "Our goal is to get FEMA to come here and walk on Franklin and tell us how water is going to get there.""If Beltzville (Dam) goes is the only way we'll ever get flooded," Jordan said.Roe said, "There are some areas closer to the Aquashicola Creek in a low-risk flood plain. That's why it doesn't make sense."According to Danielson, the borough had the Aquashicola Creek dredged in hopes of amending the flood zoning. The flood maps were revised, but the zoning for the Franklin Avenue area remained the same."There is not much question about correct elevations but more about what we believe is the exaggerated back flow, which has never been experienced even during creek flooding," he said.Will FEMA come out to Palmerton?Powell, the spokesman, said, "FEMA receives funding from Congress to review and update maps on a limited basis. FEMA does not have funding to perform individual site visits to each community. Furthermore, the flood risk is based on scientific data and measurements, including but not limited to hydraulic, hydrologic, topographical, historical, and geographical studies of the area. A visual assessment will not account for the complex data used to map the flood risk to a community and cannot be used for a determination of accurate flood risk."He said FEMA has spoken with the state and the Borough of Palmerton about the options of Letter of Map Amendment for individuals and Letter of Map Revision for physical changes the borough can pursue."We are committed to assisting them with these options if they elect to pursue them and provide any information or guidance we can," he said.