Gov't policy probably won't cover property impacted by small lakes

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Nov. 17, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Area government officials learned Tuesday that the federal government's newest policy to address property owners affected by closed-basin flooding probably wouldn't cover the small lakes causing problems in northcentral Minnesota.

On Aug. 2, an endorsement was added to all flood insurance policies carried by the National Flood Insurance Program and by insurance companies that would cover damages caused by closed-basin or landlocked basin flooding.

Simon Cardenas of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Mitigation Division told a group of county, township and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials that the new endorsement should bring relief to those suffering damage from a closed-basin lake.

In a closed-basin or landlocked lake, the only way for water to escape is through evaporation. Previously, damage caused by this type of flooding wasn't covered under insurance policies.

This type of flooding has occurred in the region on lakes such as Long Lost Lake in Clearwater County and Lake Belle Taine in Hubbard County.

Long Lost Lake, a landlocked body of water near Itasca State Park, is up 9 feet since 1993 due to precipitation and a rising water table.

This summer, on Lake Belle Taine, residents feverishly sandbagged to try to protect homes from steadily rising water, which has risen 5 feet above its normal level.

FEMA's new endorsement, however, might not help those suffering closed-basin flooding in this area because the lakes may be too small.

According to FEMA's policy, only lakes larger than one acre in surface size would qualify, leaving a lot of the small lakes that are rising in Beltrami, Clearwater, Cass and Hubbard counties out of the program.

Cardenas said FEMA's reasoning for not including small lakes is that it isn't cost effective to save those few buildings.

He said it is only cost effective when numerous structures are at risk, such as the case in Devils Lake, N.D., where the policy has been applied to more than 1,500 structures. Devils Lake is the first time the new closed-basin flood policy was applied to flood damage in the United States.

John Stine, the permits and land use administrator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said at Tuesday's forum at the Northern Inn, that because this program won't cover every flooding situation, home owners and local officials will have to continue to explore the myriad of other options existing for closed-basin flood victims, including state programs, Army Corps of Engineer programs and alternate FEMA programs.

"I don't think we're ever going to stop people from talking about other options such as moving structures through other programs or creating outlets," Stine said. "There are many different answers to finding a solution to flood problems -- it's like a menu. The (closed-basin) endorsement is just the newest thing going. It is the federal government's answer to this."