Discovery Bay is home to some of the strongest levees in the Delta. But, even the strongest levees don’t guarantee protection from flooding. Those living on or near levees will always face some risk.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for evaluating flood risk throughout the United States. Recent catastrophic floods (think Hurricane Katrina) provided new information about how and why levees break down and fail. FEMA is using this newfound knowledge to reevaluate flood protection systems nationwide, including ours.

Results from these evaluations will be used to update FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Rate Maps, the maps that show the levels of flood risk in each community. In high risk communities, any property owner with a federally-backed mortgage is required to purchase flood insurance.

Byron Tract is shown on FEMA’s maps as having 100-year flood protection. This means our levees can handle the type of flood that has a one percent chance of happening in any given year. Because we have a lower risk of flooding, property owners are encouraged, but not required, to purchase flood insurance.