The Natomas Cross Canal in Sutter County
The federal government finally made good this week on its pledge to curtail new development in Sacramento’s Natomas neighborhood. Officials say the area’s flood risk is too high. What's next for Natomas, and how are the levee renovations doing?
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The man in charge of the area’s levee renovations says residents shouldn’t worry too much.
Buer: “I think the levees are in reasonably good shape.”
Stein Buer is executive director of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. He says he would feel safe enough to buy a home in Natomas.
Buer: “With flood insurance and the direction of our programs, I would feel comfortable – and not just in Natomas but the pocket, anywhere in the Sacramento flood plain, I’d feel comfortable. But I would carry flood insurance, and I would be prepared. I’d pay attention to all the flood preparedness work, and have my emergency kit and all those things ready to go.”
If all goes well, Buer says, the levees should be in good enough shape to lift the development ban by mid-2011. The goal is to reach the feds’ minimum safety standard a year later.