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Risk MAP Success Stories

FEMA and its partners have completed a number of projects as part of the Risk MAP program, working to identify, assess and reduce flood risk in communities across the nation.

These stories provide examples of Risk MAP successes at different stages in the process.

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Challenge: The Base Flood Elevation (BFE) is how high floodwater is likely to rise during a 1%-annual-chance flood event. It is one way to measure and indicate flood risk. However, the study that established the BFE is only a snapshot in time. There are many factors that can cause floodwaters to rise above the BFE. These factors include debris-blocked bridge and culvert openings; blocked city storm sewer drains; higher-intensity rain events; storm tracks causing coinciding peak flows of flooding sources; high backwater conditions; and heavy rains on frozen ground with considerable snow depths. There is also always the potential for an event more severe than the 1%-annual-chance event. To communicate and reduce flood risk in areas beyond FEMA’s regulatory flood zones, communities need more information (especially spatial information) about flooding that exceeds the 1%-annual-chance event.

This page describes the successes that came about from implementing the Risk MAP process at Blaine County, Idaho.

This page describes the successes that came about from implementing the Risk MAP process at the New York Catskills Watersheds.

This page describes the successes that came about from implementing the Risk MAP process at Clackamas County, Oregon.

This page describes the successes that came about from implementing the Risk MAP process at Gwinnett County, Georgia.