When downtown Annapolis floods, you can watch the water climb the familiar tableau of Alex Haley telling a story to children, rising from nuisance at his bronze shoes to catastrophe when it reaches his chest.

Right now, the “Roots” author and the kids are dry. But Annapolis’ $100 million plan to protect its historic downtown from the most drastic impact of a warming climate is struggling to keep its head above water.

A $33 million federal grant remains in doubt as the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues its detailed review of plans to build new protections from high water. Frustrated city officials remain confident that the funds will come, but they admit that starting the project immediately after the close of the Annapolis Sailboat Show on Monday and finishing it by next fall won’t happen.

Approval might not come until April, they say, with major work delayed until July.

“The longer any of this takes, the more imperiled the downtown businesses and residents are,” said Eileen Fogarty, project manager for the city.

At least 97 flooding events have been recorded at City Dock so far this year, topping the record set just five years ago by 33%. Two were among the worst 10 on record.

With 25 more floods projected by the end of 2024, parts of Annapolis are drowning as the approval process plays out.

“I don’t want to say that we’re desperate, but this is getting worse,” Fogarty said.

The FEMA grant was always central to the complicated financing of the project. It includes a salad bowl full of federal funds, millions in state and county dollars, plus proceeds from a bond sale linked to a 30-year lease of the city’s rebuilt Hillman Garage.

The City Dock plan would raise parts of the seawall that runs from the Naval Academy around Ego Alley to the Donner Parking Lot. It would add a network of pumps and drains, backflow preventers, pop-up barriers and a 6.5-foot berm topped by a new park.

Around Ego Alley — named for the boaters who cruise it — separate plans would add more pumps, upgraded drains and manually lifted barriers to keep the water away from roads and buildings. It would run from the Donner lot to the edge of the Annapolis Waterfront Hotel property.

If all goes as planned, the project should protect against flooding and storm surges of up to 8 feet.

FEMA, for its part, says it is working to streamline its review of the projects by doing all of them at once.

“Our staff as well as our regional administrator, MaryAnn Tierney, are committed to the successful and timely completion of the projects in Annapolis and we are being proactive in coordinating the review of this critical effort,” a spokesperson for Tierney wrote in an email. “This includes combining our review of projects paid through different FEMA grant programs in a single, streamlined process.”

While some members of the mitigation staff at FEMA’s Region 3 offices are working on the response to Hurricane Helene, the spokesperson said that will not affect the timing.

It remains to be seen how it affects the boat shows, which draw tens of thousands to Annapolis each year and pump millions into the city’s economy.

“We are aware that the project will not be completed before the 2025 show and have been working with the design team,” said Mary Ewenson, a spokesperson for the boat shows. “They are aware of our timeline, and once they have what they need from FEMA, we’ll finalize the plan.”

Fogarty said the timetable for the City Dock project — starting work next week and completing enough to allow the boat shows to reoccupy the area for its two-week run in 2025 — was based on FEMA’s estimate during planning for the project. She hopes a meeting with Tierney, and representatives for U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, and U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes next month can still expedite approval.

“We’re asking them to do some of this concurrently rather than consecutively,” she said.

A key goal of that meeting will be to clarify what is needed to complete approval and funding as soon as possible.

Fogarty initially suggested that preparation for planned electrical work might start next week and keep the city on track, if not on time. That idea now is considered unlikely to accomplish much.

If FEMA were to withhold funding until changes were made, any work already completed would have to be redone, adding to the final cost.

The review is required under the National Environmental Policy Act, commonly known as NEPA. Any time federal money is spent on a project, FEMA hires contractors to consider the impact on environmental and cultural resources.

It starts with red flags, such as known historic buildings, waterways and major roads. Sometimes it uncovers new information that changes the project.

“In a community like Annapolis, properly documenting and identifying all historic resources is of particular importance,” the FEMA spokesperson wrote.

When the project was unveiled in 2019, Fogarty and Mayor Gavin Buckley estimated the cost at around $55 million.

Fogarty and others warned that that would likely rise, and they were right. Some of that has been the process of fleshing out designs; some can be attributed to the inflationary period that followed the COVID pandemic.

And current official estimates are tens of millions higher than the original. Buckley has said it will ultimately cost about $100 million.

That does not include the $10 million maritime welcome center that the mayor advanced as a sort of cherry-on-top. The wood-and-glass structure would connect to the historic Burtis House at the water’s edge, making room for the harbor master’s office, a tourism kiosk, facilities for visiting boaters plus room to spare.

It might also serve as a ferry terminal for a city route in the works and a new county service being planned to link Annapolis, Kent Island, and Baltimore.

Buckley is conscious that he might not be in office to see any of it completed. Term-limited, he steps down in December 2025.

But he remains hopeful some work can start by the end of this year.

“We hope that when [a FEMA] site visit is rescheduled, our project will get bumped up,” Buckley wrote in a text message. “It is shovel-ready. We expect to do certain parts of construction in December with full-scale construction happening in 2025.”