HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. (WCJB) – The proposed flood zone maps for the Santa Fe River basin that were updated earlier this year are, once again, changing.

Engagement from concerned citizens on these preliminary maps were significant, and after new flood zone risk maps were provided by the Suwannee River Water Management District — FEMA is now cutting back on the proposed changes. It means hundreds to thousands of properties that were going to be in a new flood zone, now are not. These maps remove 75% of the flood zones from the maps proposed just 6 months ago.

Troy Roberts with the Suwannee River Water Management District tells TV20; “We had tremendous feedback based on those meetings. More than 1,000 comments of people providing information, providing feedback on what those maps looked like and if they thought they were correct or incorrect. Because of that, the district went back, we reworked a lot of these maps….”

Troy Roberts: Suwannee River Water Management District; “We’re really happy with the fact that people turned out to these meetings, they took the time to provide feedback because it really changes the look of house this region is going to look in the future, and probably save a lot of them money in the long run because they because they might not need flood insurance where they might have before.”