Newton ? Harvey County officials say some residents may need to buy flood insurance under new federal maps of the area’s floodplain.

Scott Davies, director of the Harvey County Planning and Zoning, says 270 residents of unincorporated areas may be in the floodplain under new maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency maps.

The Newton Kansan reports that the maps don’t take effect until Oct 6. Davies says homeowners placed in the floodplain need to buy flood insurance.

Davies says some people living in the city of Newton would be removed from the floodplain because dams have been built in the Sand Creek Watershed since the last flood maps were adopted in 1983.

Bob Franke, a civil engineer for FEMA, says the new maps used findings from private surveyors and data from the U.S. Geological Survey.