FEMA grant to fund Taney, Jasper counties' floodplain maps

A $2.38 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide new or updated floodplain maps for 11 Missouri counties, including Stone and Taney counties.

Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt on Thursday announced the grant to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency.

The funding will provide digital flood insurance rate maps for five counties and updated maps for six others, including Jasper and Taney counties. The maps are used to establish floodplains and show flood hazard areas.

"These maps are critical for homebuyers, lenders and insurers to determine where flood hazards may exist when insuring properties," Blunt said in a news release. "The maps will use new technologies that more precisely measure topography to properly identify floodplains."

Over the next two or three years, the mapping project will use a combination of new approximate flood-hazard data and re-delineated floodplains based on topography measurements. Additional information from local officials also will be used.