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Basis of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)OverviewBefore 1968, the federal government’s flood initiatives consisted of disaster relief to victims in the event of a flood, or flood control projects such as dams, levees and seawalls. While well-intentioned, this approach did little to ease the financial burden of most flood victims. Worse, the public couldn’t buy flood coverage from most insurance companies, which regarded floods as too costly to insure. Congress established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to address both the need for flood insurance and the need to lessen the devastating consequences of flooding. The goals of the program are twofold: to protect communities from potential flood damage through floodplain management, and to provide people with flood insurance. For decades, the NFIP has been offering flood insurance to homeowners, renters and business owners, with the one condition that their communities adopt and enforce measures to help reduce the consequences of flooding. Flood insurance is the best protection that home and business owners have against the devastating financial losses that floods cause. Community Floodplain Management ActivitiesWhen a community chooses to join the NFIP, it must adopt and enforce minimum floodplain management standards for participation.
"Floodplain management" refers to an overall community program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing future flood damage. These measures generally include zoning, subdivision, or building requirements, and special-purpose floodplain ordinances. FEMA works closely with state and local officials to identify flood hazard areas and flood risks. Floodplain management requirements within high-risk areas, known as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), are designed to prevent new development from increasing the flood threat and to protect new and existing buildings from anticipated flood events. Communities participating in the NFIP must require permits for all development in the SFHA. Permit files must contain documentation to substantiate how buildings are actually constructed. The community must also ensure that construction materials and methods used will minimize future flood damage. In return, the federal government makes flood insurance available for almost every building and its contents within the community. Community ParticipationCommunity participation in the NFIP is voluntary. Each community must assess its flood hazard and determine whether flood insurance and floodplain management would benefit the community’s residents and economy. A community is an incorporated city, town, township, borough, village, tribe, or part of a county or parish that can enforce its own floodplain management ordinances. More than 20,400 communities across the country have chosen to participate in the NFIP, and FEMA makes flood insurance available to their residents and businesses. If a community chooses not to participate, flood insurance is not available from the NFIP. Moreover, if a President declares a disaster as a result of flooding, federal financial assistance will not be available for the permanent repair or reconstruction of insurable buildings. If the community applies and is accepted into the NFIP within 6 months of a presidential disaster declaration, these limitations on federal disaster assistance are lifted. To find out if your community participates in the NFIP, go to http://www.fema.gov/fema/csb.shtm. If your community doesn’t participate, you can petition your local government to take the actions to qualify for NFIP participation. If a community does not participate in the NFIP, a lender can only offer a conventional loan and is still required to inspect any flood maps to determine flood hazard risk and provide notice of such risk. Therefore, a lender may require a borrower to obtain flood insurance even in the absence of a federally mandated requirement. Risk LevelsFEMA conducts a Flood Insurance Study (FIS) of a region to identify the community's risk levels. The FIS includes statistical data for river flow, storm tides, rainfall and topographic surveys, as well as hydrologic and hydraulic analyses. After examining the FIS data, FEMA creates a map delineating the different areas of flood risk. Buildings in floodplains, or Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), are at high risk for flood damage. Some floodplains experience frequent flooding, while others are affected only when there is a severe storm. As a homeowner in a floodplain, it's not so much a question of whether a flood will damage your property, as it is a question of when. That's why the law requires you to have flood insurance. Did you know that an SFHA home has a 26% chance of being flooded over a 30-year period? Each community that chooses to participate in the NFIP works closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Together, they collect the information needed to create an accurate Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and Flood Insurance Study (FIS) of the region. The FIRM and FIS will later be used to determine flood insurance rates for homeowners. What is a Flood Insurance Study (FIS)?A Flood Insurance Study (FIS) is a book that contains information regarding flooding in a community and is developed in conjunction with the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). The FIS, also known as a flood elevation study, frequently contains a narrative of the flood history of a community and discusses the engineering methods used to develop the FIRMs. The study also contains flood profiles for studied flooding sources and can be used to determine base flood elevations for some areas. Can I appeal a new Flood Insurance Study?An appeal is a formal objection to proposed base flood elevations. Appeals may be submitted by a community or individual resident during the 90-day appeal period. They must be based on data that show the proposed base flood elevations are scientifically or technically incorrect. When a preliminary Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Map establishes new or revised base flood elevations (BFEs), the community is given the opportunity to appeal the BFEs. After a 30-day review period during which the preliminary information can be publicized, the proposed BFEs are published twice in the legal advertisements of the local newspaper. The second publication takes place a week after the first, and on the day of the second publication, the 90-day appeal period begins. BFEs can be appealed if they are shown to be scientifically or technically incorrect. BFEs can also be scientifically incorrect if an assumption within the analysis is shown to be inappropriate or incorrect. To support an appeal, the BFE should be recalculated and justification for the new methodology or change in assumptions should be provided. BFEs can also be appealed if they are technically incorrect, which means there is an error in the analysis. The error may consist of data that are incorrect, or there may be an error in the application of the analysis. Appeals must be submitted within the 90-day appeal period. They should be sent to the community's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who forwards all appeals of BFEs to: Chief, Hazards Study Branch Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration Federal Emergency Management Agency 500 C Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20472 Appeal procedures and supporting data are outlined in Appeals, Revisions, and Amendments to National Flood Insurance Program Maps, A Guide for Community Officials (FIA-12). Flood Insurance Rate MapsYour flood insurance rate is based on the level of flood risk. FEMA assesses flood risk for more than 20,400 communities nationwide, resulting in the publication of more than 80,000 individual Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). These are selectively revised as communities grow, and as new or better scientific and technical data concerning flood risks become available. Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), Flood Insurance Study (FIS) texts and other flood-map-related products are available from a variety of sources. Courtesy of FEMA-National Flood Insurance Program www.FloodSmart.gov |