When the people who live on the narrow streets of the Wyndgate Village neighborhood ught their homes on what was once ranch land no one told them flooding was an issue.

"I researched it," says homeowner Dennis Ratto, "and I was assured it was not."

In fact it turns out the land which once had been on flood plain maps had been removed as part of an agreement allowing it to be developed. In exchange drainage structures were built including a levee keeping flood waters from White's Creek a bay.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration has now decertified that levee, notifying 246 home owners in Wyndgate Village and the adjacent Classics neighborhood their mortgage companies will now require them to buy flood insurance. The cost appears to be about $100 dollars a month and there may be added homeowner association fees.

It's an unexpected financial load for people living here, but they say money isn't the only issue.

"It's a health and safety issue," says Ratto. "We want the levee fixed."

The homeowners point to an agreement between the city and the Double Diamond developer in 1996 that requires the homeowner's association to maintain the drainage channel and file a yearly report with the city.

That clearly has not happened. Today the channel is clogged with brush, cattails and willows. It looks as if it hasn't been touched in years.

The city admits no reports were received, but says maintenance of the channel is not the issue that led to the levee's decertification.It was a change in FEMA's post-Katrina policy and the levee itself is inadequate.

The fix is about $1.5 million dollars. Just who and how it would be paid for or even if it will be done is unclear, but this neighborhood is ready to fight. For one, Ratto is talking tough.

"The city, the developer, every realtor who sold a home to the 246 people, the title companies who undewrote the loans, the mortgage companies, we're going to sue everyone."

The residents say it was the city's lack of response to FEMA for information that brought this to a head. The city says it was given a short time to get a response from 7 property owners along the levee and didn't hear from every one involved in time.

There is no legal requirement that the levee be fixed, but if it was the area would again be removed from flood plain maps and the requirement for flood insurance would disappear.

City officials emphasize that only the 246 residents who received a notification from FEMA are affected.

It's hosting a public meeting on the issue Tuesday night at 7 at DePaoli Elementary School.