FEMA’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration updated the Guidance and Standards that it uses in its flood mapping and risk analysis efforts.There are six revised standards, three new standards, and one rescinded standard in this maintenance cycle in addition to a number of updated guidance and technical reference documents.
Several of these updates to Risk MAP guidance and technical references begin implementing recommendations from the Technical Mapping Advisory Council’s (TMAC) 2015 recommendations.
TMAC related updates include requirements for reporting the accuracy of elevation data used, and guidance on selecting engineering models. FEMA also enhanced the standards and guidance development process and updated FEMA Policy #FP 204-078-1 to address the TMAC recommendation to consider the cost of implementation for new requirements and address the costs consistently.
The updated standards address requirements for emergency operation plans for levee accreditation, clarify requirements for incorporating Letters Of Map Revisions into map updates, update requirements for processing Physical Map Revisions (PMRs) update Notice to Users (NTU) requirements, update requirements for flood risk product automation, update distribution requirements for Flood Insurance Study (FIS) Reports, and formalize several standards for removal of the special flood hazard area designation by letter consistent with current practice.
FEMA conducted a public review of the draft standards earlier this year. FEMA regularly updates these guidance and technical reference documents to ensure ongoing improvements in its flood mapping and risk analysis efforts. The actual standards and related guidance are available at www.fema.gov/guidelines-and-
A summary of the changes to standards is below, along with the associated standard ID (SID).
Standards Updates
SID 444: The purpose for the update is to require emergency operation and public evacuation procedures be documented for levee systems to be accredited. This standard will emphasize the importance of ensuring this information is available and is aligned with existing accreditation regulations. Additionally, this standard is consistent with “Flood Protection Structure Accreditation Task Force: Final Report” recommendations to require such information. The “Flood Protection Structure Accreditation Task Force: Final Report” was produced following a requirement in the 2012 NFIP Reform Act for FEMA and US Army Corps of Engineers to align our requirements related to levee inspection, certification, and accreditation.
SID 551: The purpose for the update is clarify that Risk MAP Program providers are responsible for all data within a PMR footprint and this should meet required DVT checks, standards and quality reviews.
SIDs 169 & 368: Removes conflicting requirements that existed between the original standards 169 and 368 related to the incorporation of LOMRs into a study or PMR. All valid LOMRs that are effective prior to the LOMC cutoff data must be incorporated. SID 169 will be updated with the combined language and SID 368 will be rescinded. This update will not result in significant changes to current processes.
SID 440: The purpose for the update is to remove the phrase that mandated how Mapping Partners create the Flood Risk Map (“must be derived directly from the Flood Risk Database”). This change was needed to promote more flexibility in how the Flood Risk Map and Flood Risk Report get created, and to ultimately support simplification of the Flood Risk Database. An associated Flood Risk Database Technical Reference update will also be made to fully implement this change.
SID 268: Requires that all communities included in a revised FIS, regardless of whether they are affected by the revision, must receive a copy of the updated FIS or receive a notice of how to download an updated FIS. Currently, all communities in a county affected by a revision receive a copy of the revised FIS Report at effective issuance, delivered by the MSC. This aligns with current practice. In the future, communities included in the FIS, but not affected by the revision may receive a notice of how to download an updated FIS, rather than receive the updates directly.
SID 227: The purpose for the update is to add the option for making corrections to the National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) through the NTU process, and also to clarify the accreditation status of a levee cannot be updated by an NTU.
New Standards
SID 623: This is a new standard to clarify that requests to remove the SHFA designation that require a Community Acknowledgement Form cannot be processed in non-participating communities.
SID 624: This is a new standard that states the basis for approval or denial of requests to remove the SFHA designation from a structure or property based on the elevation of the lowest adjacent grade at the structure or naturally occurring intervening high ground between the flooding source and the structure of property.
SID 626: This is a new standard to clarify that to remove the SFHA designation from a property or portion of a property, the area to be removed cannot partially overlap any proposed or existing structures and may not include flooding sources or waterways that are shown on the effective Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).
There is also an addition (highlighted) to the “Requirements” section of the policy to help clarify the impact of new standards on existing task orders and agreements:
Standards must be implemented based on the effective date and implementation description. The implementation description is chosen to avoid cost or scope impacts on existing task orders, cooperative agreements, or interagency agreements. If the implementation of a new standard as mandated by this policy requires a change to an existing agreement, coordinate with the FEMA to modify the existing agreement as necessary. New standards may be implemented sooner in coordination with the FEMA Project Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative.
A summary of the changes to guidance and technical references is below:
TMAC Recommendations:
Modeling Guidance
Hydraulics – One-dimensional Analysis and Floodway Guidance: Transformation with minor edits / updates. Some additional language is being added to provide guidance on how to choose between steady and unsteady modeling techniques.
Hydraulics – Two-dimensional Analysis Guidance: Transformation with new content from recently developed FEMA whitepapers. The new content will help modelers choose between 1-D and 2-D models and better define data sources. Also, adding information about model verification and maintenance.
Elevation Data Accuracy Reporting
FIRM Database Technical Reference: Updating fields within S_Submittal_Info to capture topographic data accuracy (TOPO_VERT_ACC and TOPO_HORIZ_ACC fields) to support TMAC recommendation. This will increase the version of the FIRM Database. There are other minor updates.
FIRM Database Guidance: Minor changes to align with the FIRM DB Technical References updates, as well as providing guidance about how to populate the new fields.
Domain Tables Technical Reference: New Domains being added for the new fields in the S_Submittal_Info. Also, adding new domains for D_Task_Typ: Topo_Capture and Terrain_Capture.
Terrain Metadata Profile: Adding Topo Capture and Terrain Capture GeoForm options.
Data Capture Technical Reference: Updating to reflect new Topo_Capture and Terrain_Capture tasks, also adding Automated Engineering report to General folder for Hydrology, Hydraulics, Floodplain Mapping, and Flood Risk Dataset.
Data Capture – General Guidance: Revisions to reflect new Topo_Capture and Terrain_Capture tasks, updates to the media section to reflect CDS guidance on submitting large datasets, and other minor changes.
Data Capture – Workflow Details Guidance: Revisions to reflect new Topo_Capture and Terrain_Capture tasks, minor updates to the Automated Engineering section.
FIS Report Technical Reference: Revising information about Table 23 to reflect new S_Submittal_Info fields.
Substantial Updates:
CNMS Technical Reference: Updated to incorporate the revised Coastal CNMS framework and coastal study validation assessment process and checklist. Some minor revisions and additions have been made to the S_Studies_Ln feature class schema, including new fields to store validation assessment decision documentation directly in the database rather than as an external spreadsheet.
Quality Review & Quality Management Guidance: Consolidation of the two existing Quality guidance documents into one, and updates to incorporate references to KDP requirements, as well as guidance around the timing of submittals, reviews, and the archiving of data. The structure is being re-organized around the lifecycle of a Flood Risk Study while providing details about quality assurance, quality control, and continuous process improvement.
Guidance Transformation:
Stakeholder Engagement-FIS and FIRM Delivery Guidance: Transformed guidance, plus substantial revisions to reflect FEMA emphasis on stakeholder engagement throughout Risk MAP lifecycle and to address requirements of Section 216 of the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, as amended by Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014.
Stakeholder Engagement-Planning for Mitigation Action Guidance: Transformed guidance, plus substantial revisions to reflect FEMA emphasis on stakeholder engagement throughout Risk MAP lifecycle and to address requirements of Section 216 of the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, as amended by Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014.
General Hydraulics Guidance: Originally transformed in May 2016. Held for release to correspond with 1-D and 2-D Analysis Guidance release because of extensive interdependencies. Provides additional clarity on levels of study such as Base Level Engineering and Detailed Study.
Alluvial Fan Guidance: Transformed guidance, with the removal of some out dated content.
Shallow Flooding Guidance: Transformed guidance, plus revisions to some language to reflect current program terminology and evolving methods of analysis since Appendix E was originally written.
Flood Profiles Guidance: Transformed guidance, plus added guidance to address profile situations commonly encountered, such as drawdowns, overprints, and profiles for 2D modeling, among others.
Coastal: Statistical Simulation Methods Guidance: Transformed guidance, consolidating related guidance from Appendix D and Operating Guidance 8-12 on Joint Probability Method.
Coastal: Flood Frequency and Extreme Value Analysis Guidance: Transformed guidance, and updated to remove certain guidance previously included in legacy Appendix D, such as the recommendation to adopt the GEV distribution, examples that highlighted how to perform certain statistical analyses, and language pertaining to the complexity of the Peaks Over Threshold approach.
Miscellaneous Updates:
Regulatory Product Updates
FIRM Panel Technical Reference: Updated to provide a specification for the FIRM Panel neatline.
FIS Report Technical Reference: Replaced the NGS physical address and phone number listed in the FIS Report with a reference to the NGS website; added clarifying information for documenting multi-county communities in the Community Map History Table and on the FIRM Index; added a special CBRS/PNP note option to the FIRM Index where CBRS areas apply over open water; and updated Table 23 (Topographic Data) to be consistent with updates to the FIRM Database Technical Reference and to better implement the TMAC recommendation to document the Vertical and Horizontal accuracy of elevation data used in the study.
FIS Report Guidance: Minor update to support the improved implementation of SID #261; updated to support the special CBRS/PNP FIRM Index note added to the FIS Report Technical Reference.
FIS Report Template: Updated to reflect NGS updates in the FIS Report Technical Reference.
NFHL Guidance: Updates to document changes to the NFHL submission process, LOMR source citation guidance, and changes to quality corrections that can be processed as NTUs.
DVT, PMR and FIRM Index Guidance: Minor changes to clarify guidance and better align with other documents.
Flood Risk Product Updates
Flood Risk Database Technical Reference: Updated to fully implement the changes to SID #440 and to promote more flexibility and simplification of the database, by removing the requirement that the following Flood Risk Map and Flood Risk Report-specific tables must be populated: S_Carto_Ar, S_Carto_Ln, S_Carto_Pt, S_FRM_Callout_Ln, FRR_Custom, FRR_Images, and FRR_Project. These are now optional.
Flood Risk Database and Flood Risk Map Guidance: Minor updates to be consistent with the updates to the Flood Risk Database Technical Reference.
Other Routine Updates
Post-Preliminary Processing (PPP) Deliverables Guidance: Minor updates to the FEDD table to include new BW-12 guidance and be consistent with other May 2016 updates (FEDD/TSDN).
Coastal General Study Considerations Guidance: Updated section 4.4 to incorporate guidance regarding temporary shoreline disturbances.
MIP Guidance: Updates to reflect changes in the process for submitting large datasets to the MSC.
NTU Guidance: Updates to discuss NFHL-only NTUs, alignment with updates to SID #227 and other revised information to make the use of NTU more streamlined.
MetaMan Guidance: Updating to expand information on use of the tool.
Metadata Profiles (with references to Automated Engineering): Adding optional language to the existing Hydrology, Hydraulics, Floodplain Mapping, and Flood Risk Dataset metadata profiles to be used when submitting Automated Engineering data with these tasks.
