Jill Schramm/MDN Officials on the left side of the table visit with Minot residents on the right side of the table about flood plain concerns at a FEMA informational meeting in Minot Municipal Auditorium Wednesday.

Some North Hill residents have been surprised to learn their properties are in high-risk flood plains on a preliminary map released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last month.

Agency representatives and state and local officials held meetings this week with residents to discuss the new map, particularly as it affects the Souris River Valley.

Lance Meyer, Minot city engineer and flood plain manager, said the areas on North Hill shown as high-risk flood plains on the new, preliminary map would have shown up on the old map as well. However, since then, some ponds or lagoons have become regulated or filled.

“We need to update these maps based on that new topographical information,” Meyer said. He said the city will be requesting FEMA remove those areas from the flood plain when it submits comments on the preliminary map.

Homeowners also have the option of submitting a Letter of Map Amendment with documenting information if they have properties they believe were mistakenly placed in a flood plain.

Leland Dammen wasn’t about to run out and buy flood insurance on property he owns, including a portion of a mobile home park north of 30th Avenue Northwest that the map shows included in a flood plain.

“Why would I carry flood insurance on North Hill?” he said. “I never had floods up there. We have had hard rains, but it all runs off.”

The map shows drainage from a lagoon that used to operate for the mobile home park but has since been filled. The city plans to ask the area be removed from the flood plain.

A large slough east of the water tower behind MarketPlace Foods on North Hill has an outlet pipe extending to the east through airport property. That eliminates a threat of flooding, despite the preliminary map showing a large flood plain on land owned by Northern Lights Property Development and by about a dozen homeowners.

Minot Realtor Cindy Harvey, whose home is in the affected area, said she had assumed she was out of any high-risk flood plain. While technically correct based on the new outlet pipe, she now concedes it’s not a good idea to assume.

“The lesson learned here, for me especially in real estate and anyone in Minot, is check your address,” Harvey said.

In south Minot and the neighboring rural area, the preliminary flood map makes some changes in the existing flood plain along Puppy Dog, First and Second Larson and Gasman coulees. The Green Acres subdivision, west of Dakota Square Mall, has been in a high-risk flood zone due to Puppy Dog Coulee, although some homes have been at elevations that put them at lesser risk. Meyer said the map revision might bring some Green Acres residents at higher elevations back into the flood plain.