Guide for Community Officials (December 2009) 

Preface 

The Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA) is the agency within 
the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS) that is responsible for 
administration of the National Flood 
Insurance Program (NFIP). In this 
capacity, FEMA identifies flood hazards, 
assesses flood risks, and provides 
appropriate flood hazard and risk 
information to communities nationwide. 
To identify hazards and assess risks, 
engineering studies/mapping projects are 
performed, in accordance with FEMA 
guidelines and standards, by the 
following: 

• Private engineering firms who 
work under contract to FEMA; 
• Other Federal agencies who work 
under Interagency Agreements 
with FEMA (i.e., U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Natural 
Resources Conservation Service, 
U.S. Geological Survey, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, and Tennessee 
Valley Authority); 
• State agency, regional entity, 
local community, and Indian 
Tribal entity participants in the 
FEMA Cooperating Technical 
Partners Program, who work 
under Cooperative Agreements 
with FEMA and are referred to 
collectively as “CTPs”; 
• Subcontractors to CTPs, which 
include both private engineering 
firms and other Federal agencies 
(e.g., U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, Natural Resources 
Conservation Service, U.S. 
Geological Survey); and 
• Communities and other entities 
that submit map revision 
requests. 
Those studies/mapping projects are 
based on standard engineering practices 
and yield the flood hazard and risk 
information that is reflected on the NFIP 
maps, including Base (1-percent-annualchance, or 100-year) Flood Elevations, 
base flood depths, flood insurance risk 
zones, 1-percent-annual-chance and 0.2percent-annual-chance (500-year) flood 
zone boundary delineations, regulatory 
floodway boundary delineations, and 
flood insurance risk zone designations. 

Over 20,000 communities now 
participate voluntarily in the NFIP. 
Using the flood hazard and risk 
information presented on NFIP maps, 
these participating communities design 
and adopt floodplain management 
measures aimed at reducing future flood 
losses. In exchange, FEMA makes 
actuarially based flood insurance 
available to the millions of property 
owners in those communities. 

NFIP maps require changes from time to 
time as a result of anticipated 
development in previously unstudied 
areas, floodplain and watershed changes, 
flood control or mitigation efforts, or 
improvements in the techniques used for 
identifying flood hazards and assessing 
flood risk. Because they are most 
informed about local physical conditions 
and development practices, community 
officials and interested citizens play an 
important role in keeping NFIP maps 
technically sound and up to date as 
conditions change in their communities. 

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Guide for Community Officials (December 2009) 

The participation of community officials 
has become even more critical since 
FEMA undertook an unprecedented 
multiyear effort to update the flood 
hazard and risk information for 
floodprone communities across the 
United States, to modernize the NFIP 
flood maps and associated documents 
and other information, and to improve 
the processes and procedures used to 
create and maintain them. 

Through the map modernization effort, 
FEMA has: (1) increased the quality, 
reliability, and availability of flood 
hazard maps and data using digital 
technology and refined standards; (2) 
streamlined the study and map 
production process; (3) delivered flood 
maps in Geographic Information System 
format, making it easier to view and 
analyze the flood hazard and risk 
information provided; and (4) improved 
stakeholder access to flood hazard and 
risk data through the Internet, both 
during the study as data become 
available and after map adoption as 
required to determine insurance rates. 

Building on the successes of the map 
modernization effort, FEMA has 
embarked on an effort to reduce losses 
of life and property through effective 
local mitigation activities that are 
enabled by quality flood hazard data, 
risk assessments, and mitigation 
planning. The Risk Mapping, 
Assessment, and Planning, or “Risk 
MAP,” effort will provide the structure 
for an integrated national assessment of 
risks through collaboration between and 
among FEMA, State agencies, regional 
entities, local communities, and Indian 
Tribal entities. To learn more about the 

Risk MAP goals, objectives, and 
strategies, interested parties are invited 
to read the multi-year plan, approved by 
the U.S. Congress on March 16, 2009, 
and other documents available on the 
FEMA Website at 

http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/r 
m_main.shtm. 

This Guide provides information about 
the technical standards to be applied, and 
the procedures to be followed, by local 
officials, citizens, and others who 
request changes to NFIP maps. This 
Guide is intended not only to discuss 
those standards and procedures, but to 
help community officials and other 
interested stakeholders understand how 
they can be most effective in 
maintaining the accuracy of the flood 
hazard and risk information provided on 
flood maps. 

The Guide is designed for readers who 
do not require refined technical or legal 
explanations, but do need a basic 
understanding of the processes by which 
NFIP maps may be changed. Therefore, 
we have minimized the use of technical 
terms in this Guide, and the information 
presented is not intended to serve as 
legal definitions. Where appropriate, the 
Guide refers readers to sections of the 
guidance documents—primarily, the 
FEMA Guidelines and Specifications for 
Flood Hazard Mapping Partners, the 
application forms packages for 
conditional and final map changes, and 
the NFIP regulations —for the more 
technical explanations and legal 
definitions. 

A significant amount of the technical 
information that some readers may need 
is found in Volumes 1 and 2 and 

ii Preface 


Guide for Community Officials (December 2009) 

assorted appendices of the FEMA 

Guidelines and Specifications for Flood 
Hazard Mapping Partners, which is 
accessible through the following page: 

http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/g 
s_main.shtm 

The application forms packages are 
described in Chapters 5 through 9 and 
listed in Appendix B of this Guide. 
These forms also are accessible through 
the following page: 

http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/f 
rm_form.shtm 

For information about legal 
requirements, readers should refer to the 
NFIP regulations, which are found in the 
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 
Title 44, Chapter I, Parts 59-77. Parts 
61, 65, 67, 68, 70, and 72 of these NFIP 
regulations apply specifically to the map 
change processes described in this 
Guide. 

In the event of any conflict between the 
information presented in this Guide and 
the requirements set forth in the NFIP 
regulations, the NFIP regulations take 
precedence. The NFIP regulations also 
are available for viewing or download 
through either through the U.S. 
Government Printing Office Website or 
through the Flood Hazard Mapping 
portion of the FEMA Website. 

The information presented in the Guide 
has proven effective in enabling those 
who wish to change NFIP maps to 
identify the appropriate process; collect 
and submit the necessary supporting data 
and/or documentation; and, ultimately, 
to help FEMA respond efficiently to the 
needs of NFIP map users. 

By increasing the efficiency of the 
various map change processes in this 
way, the Guide has proved to be as 
useful as it is popular. 

With increasing land-development 
pressure, the growth of community 
awareness of flood hazards and risks and 
the need for adequate flood-mitigation 
measures, the advent of new techniques 
for assessing flood risks, and the 
emergence of Geographic Information 
Systems and similar digital technologies, 
concomitant changes in NFIP procedures 
have occurred, particularly in those 
related to the appeal, map revision, and 
map amendment processes. Therefore, to 
remain a useful tool, this Guide has been 
updated to provide the latest information 
about those processes. By so doing, we 
are continuing our efforts to work 
cooperatively with local officials for the 
benefit of community officials and 
citizens nationwide. 

We welcome comments from users of 
this Guide and suggestions for 
improving this and the variety of other 
products that are available on the Flood 
Hazard Mapping portion of the FEMA 
Website. For your convenience, the 
addresses and telephone numbers of our 
Regional and Headquarters Offices are 
provided in Appendix E at the end of 
this Guide. 

Let us know how we are doing…we are 
here to assist you. 

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