Matamoras Flood Zones (Rankin, Milford, Penn: insurance, house, assess)

[grover]

Anyone have any info on the flood zones in Matamoras? I know the whole town doesn't flood, but what areas do and don't. I was looking for a map but couldn't find anything. Also is flood insurance expensive? Can you obtain flood insurance if the home has already flooded?
We were thinking of moving to the area, and were hoping to be able to live in Matamoras, instead of Milford or Dingmans area. Wanted to be a little closer to Orange county for commuting purposes.

[ScranBarre]

Here's a link I found from the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service that shows the levels at which the town starts to take on water: Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Binghamton: Delaware River at Matamoras/Port Jervis

Unfortunately, as you can see, the information provided is quite vague, other than stating that at a level of 24.0 feet, the river causes "significant" damage to Matamoras and Port Jervis. The river has flooded the town in both 2005 and 2006, and with the forecast for a very busy upcoming hurricane season, I also worry that a slow-moving tropical system moving up the coast could make 2007 a flood year as well.

A few members on this forum live in the Pike/Wayne County area and could probably tell you where the floodwaters stop creeping in. If not, perhaps you could contact the Pike County Chamber of Commerce at info@pikechamber.com for more information.

Best of luck!

[PA_Prowler]

Originally Posted by grover

Anyone have any info on the flood zones in Matamoras? I know the whole town doesn't flood, but what areas do and don't. I was looking for a map but couldn't find anything. Also is flood insurance expensive? Can you obtain flood insurance if the home has already flooded?
We were thinking of moving to the area, and were hoping to be able to live in Matamoras, instead of Milford or Dingmans area. Wanted to be a little closer to Orange county for commuting purposes.

I have just what you're looking for. The Pike County GIS Parcel Mapping Application, courtesy of the County is a fantastic online resource available at the following URL:

Pike County, Pennsylvania

*Edit: Can't seem to get the URL to display properly. Might have to cut & paste it.

The maps will do a lot more than just show you the flood plain. It will show every single parcel of land in the county with all available current relevant data. Owner, parcel size, assessed value, etc. Take a little time to experiment with the maps. It's very easy to figure out. Just a tip. . . if you want to see detailed lot information you'll need to allow pop-ups to be enebled for the site. As for your other questions. I live in just about the worst possible place for flooding here. Flood Insurance through Nationwide runs us 235.00/yr and that is with an extra $60K to cover house contents. Without the additional coverage only structural damage is covered. We haven't had to collect on the insurance, but it is cheap piece of mind. Our home is 1200 sq ft, modular, 7 years old. Fortunately we haven't had water enter the house during the last 3 floods, but it has come within 6" of where the foundation ends and the siding begins. Outside the high water mark was 28". We had to get the basement pumped out by the FD, but that was the extent of it. Our furnace & HWH are above ground. Hope this helps.

---Mike

[grover]

Thankyou so much PA prowler, this is exactly what I was looking for.

[A2Zpa]

I remember those floods all too well.

[lady309]

I live in Matamoras and although the floods were devastating for those who were affected, the majority of the town did not flood. The pictures listed above are from Port Jervis and Westfall, I believe one is from Matamoras - don't get me wrong we did flood, but we also banded together to help our neighbors. It's a great place to live. You'd be safer on Avenues A-L and above 8th St. Good luck with your seach.

[A2Zpa]

Originally Posted by lady309

I live in Matamoras and although the floods were devastating for those who were affected, the majority of the town did not flood. The pictures listed above are from Port Jervis and Westfall, I believe one is from Matamoras - don't get me wrong we did flood, but we also banded together to help our neighbors. It's a great place to live. You'd be safer on Avenues A-L and above 8th St. Good luck with your seach.

You are correct, sorry I did not specify the areas the pictures where taken.

[PA_Prowler]

Originally Posted by lady309

I live in Matamoras and although the floods were devastating for those who were affected, the majority of the town did not flood. The pictures listed above are from Port Jervis and Westfall, I believe one is from Matamoras - don't get me wrong we did flood, but we also banded together to help our neighbors. It's a great place to live. You'd be safer on Avenues A-L and above 8th St. Good luck with your seach.

Very true about neighbor helping neighbor. It is a great town. As for the flooding, the last 3 were pretty much "close calls" in the grand scheme of things. Most of the Borough was not significantly affected. The crests for the last three show an interesting pattern of slightly increasing each time:

(4) 21.43 ft on 06/28/2006
(5) 20.53 ft on 04/03/2005
(6) 19.52 ft on 09/18/2004

Note that these were the 4'th 5'th & 6'th highest crests recorded at the gauge just south of the RT 6 & 209 bridge (Mid-Delaware Bridge).

Now these past three events were classified as Minor Flood Stage by the NWS for the measuring point, because they fell within the range of 18' to 24'.

At 24' to 27' the classification changes to Moderate Flood Stage. The Flood of 1955 (Hurricane Diane) was just below the official Moderate Flood Stage:

(2) 23.91 ft on 08/19/1955 - Ranking #2 on the all-time hit parade.
(1) 25.50 ft on 03/08/1904 - I believe this was the one that took out the former Suspension Bridge for the Second time. This one gets the record now at the official highest crest (still below the Severe Stage). This is pretty comforting.

(3) 23.10 ft on 10/10/1903 - The "Pumpkin Flood" of 1903. Note the short duration between this one and #1. Then nothing very significant until 1955.

As an aside, the record was recently changed. The ice jam of Feb 1981 was in the #1 slot for many years at 26.something feet. I don't remember exactly, but 26.6' sounds familiar. A hair away from the Severe Stage. I understand the recording at the gauge was determined to be inaccurate because of the jamming, duh! And the record was discarded (or no longer remains on the list for some reason). The fact remains that river rose over 14' in under an hour. Now that's some scary stuff!

[momof2gs]

What Lady said is exaclty what I was going to say. As far as neighbors go you cant get better than this town. It is an awesome place to live.

[TheHighHat]

If I had to do things all over I would pick Matamoras over Milford and Dingmans. I see a friendly neighborhood and close knit town. People are extremely friendly and I have friends that live there - it gives you the close "hometown" feeling. Just avoid some of the flood areas as other posters have mentioned.....but it truly a nice place -
Good luck with your search.