It was going to cost northwest side residents millions in insurance costs, but tonight a federal agency has backed off.

New maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had put large portions of Marana in a flood plain.

That would force homeowners to buy costly insurance, but the people fought back and won.

FEMA sent out a letter this morning acknowledging they could be wrong about their flood maps. They think the railroad tracks would not prevent a flood, but the town plans to prove them wrong.

John Kmiec and his family say they have little to worry about in Gladden Farms. That is why they moved there. Then they heard they may have to start paying for flood insurance.

“We lived in an area where we were paying flood insurance, so one of the reasons we moved here was to get outta that,” Kmiec admits.

He says they have been concerned ever since. Kmiec does not believe a flood would destroy his neighborhood. Perhaps he would know. He explains, “I’m a hydrologist geologist.”

Other Gladden Farms residents say they do not believe it either. “The flood from the mountains…they’re not gonna come here,” Robert Shawver reveals.

That is what the Town of Marana has tried to explain to FEMA for the last couple of months. Today FEMA acknowledged the accusation may be true.

If rain came down the Tortolita Mountains, it could potentially flood an entire area. The Interstate 10 and railroad tracks could act as a barrier to keep water from flowing into the Gladden Farms community.

According to the letter from FEMA, they never took that into consideration.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Senator Jon Kyl held a teleconference with Town of Marana officials today to congratulate them on FEMA’s response.

When Congresswoman Giffords got involved, they started moving a little bit and when Senator Kyl got involved they moved even more.

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“It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation,” explains Congresswoman Giffords. “We are not on a coastal flood plain. We are not in Mississippi and the Delta areas.”

Marana Mayor Ed Honea agrees, “I believe our study will find that northern Marana is not in a flood plain.”

Marana has ten months to gather information. They plan to conduct a half-a-million-dollar study, which their rainy day fund will pay for.

If the town cannot prove FEMA wrong, Gladden Farms residents could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in added insurance costs each year.