Text · page 120 of 154
Read the whole document on one page (all 154 pages, each with its own heading)
events also include unsafe food, contaminated drinking and washing water and poor sanitation, mosquitoes and other animals, carbon monoxide poisoning, secondary hazards associated with re- entering and cleaning flooded structures, and the mental stress and fatigue associated with a significant and potentially traumatic natural disaster. E. Land Use, Environment, and Agriculture If the Town of Aurora continues to develop by building more structures, impervious surfaces will increase, thus potentially increasing the frequency and/or severity of flood events. Additionally, there are several dams within the Town of Aurora. Dam failure could cause substantial water pollution and debris issues, as described above. Contaminated water and sediment and potentially severe soil erosion can be destructive for local ecosystems. The Town of Aurora highly values its agricultural heritage and industry, and the natural systems which support agriculture could be heavily affected by this damage. F. Insurance Claims According to the ECMHMP (data from September 2021 was utilized), there are 12 active NFIP policies within the Town of Aurora, with 12 claims and $96,661 total paid out for losses. There are 7 “repetitive loss” properties within the Town. FEMA defines a repetitive loss property as “an insurable building for which two or more claims of more than $1,000 were paid by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) within any rolling ten-year period, since 1978.” Only one of these 12 properties is located in the 1% flood boundary. The 12 policies held in the Town of Aurora are comparable to the median number of policies held in all other jurisdictions in Erie County, which is 8. The median number of claims per jurisdiction in Erie County is 18, compared to 12 in Aurora, and the median number of losses paid out per jurisdiction is $73,956, compared to $96,661. Based on these comparisons, the Town of Aurora has slightly more than the median number of NFIP policies. Slightly fewer than the median number of claims have been made, but the losses paid out were substantially higher than in other jurisdictions. However, some communities in Erie County, such as those on the coast of Lake Erie or with major creeks, have very high numbers of policies, claims, and losses paid. For instance, the Town of Amherst had the highest number of policies (846) and number of claims (448), while the Village of Gowanda had the largest number of losses paid (over $2.3 million). 120