In 1968, the federal government introduced an innovative concept to the real estate and insurance marketplaces – The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP was designed to mitigate a flood’s impact.
The National Flood Insurance Program meets their objectives by:
- Delivering reasonably priced flood insurance policies
- Encouraging communities to enforce floodplain regulations set forth by FEMA
So, how did this begin?
National Flood Insurance Act
A year before the Woodstock Festival, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program to provide needed insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners; provided their community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. When participating, communities agree, they must enforce the floodplain ordinances that meet/exceed the FEMA’s standards.
Flood Insurance Rate Maps (Firms)
FEMA’s Risk Mapping, Assessment, and planning tool (MAP), identifies flood risks, flood hazards, and works in unison with communities to provide accurate risk data as guidance for future mitigation efforts and planning. Flood hazard mapping creates the database upon which the NFIP regulations are formed.
FEMA maintains flood map data throughout their proprietary database – Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). A FIRM includes statistical data gathered regarding tides, rainfall, and hydraulic analyses.
Each Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM,) provides data identifying:
- Major roadways, secondary street and tertiary roads, rivers, waterfront property and mass transit, like railroads
- Special Flood Hazard Areas
- Base Flood Elevation or depths
- Flood Insurance risk zones
- Areas subject to inundation by a ‘500-year’ flood