Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program Improving Policies and Practices (2013) / Chapter Skim
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2 Treatment of Levees Within the National Flood Insurance Program
2 Treatment of Levees Within the National Flood Insurance Program
Pages 21-32
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From page 21... ...
Because many of these structures, mostly levees, had, in the past, successfully passed what had been considered a one percent annual chance flood, both local communities and the contractors raised the issue of excluding areas with a one percent annual chance or greater structure from 1 The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, §1360, 42 U.S.C.
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From page 22... ...
Their acceptance was based primarily on having been constructed by the federal government or having previously withstood a significant flood. In a 1974 amendment to the 1968 National Flood Insurance Act, the Congress affirmed the one percent annual chance flood as the minimum standard for the program.
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From page 23... ...
The report contained recommendations covering engineering criteria for levee recognition, levee inspection and evaluation, requirements of levee owners, requirements of local communities, liability of local governments and levee districts, floodplain mapping approaches, and treatment of levees in the insurance aspects of the NFIP. The NRC report concluded that because the basic objective of the NFIP was to mitigate flood damages and that the basic program prohibits construction below the 100-year level, FEMA should require construction of all new levees to at least the one percent annual chance flood.
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From page 24... ...
Where appropriate, a federal agency with responsibility for levee design may certify that the levee has been adequately designed and constructed to provide protection against the base flood. No provisions were made to reduce the rates for those behind levees providing less than one percent annual chance flood protection or to conduct periodic inspections, and 44 CFR §65.10 has remained unchanged since 1985.
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From page 25... ...
The memorandum further indicated that when the levee owner was not able to produce data or was unable to otherwise substantiate that the levee met criteria, the area protected by the levee would be mapped as being in the floodplain and the requirements for mandatory purchase of insurance and regulation would go into effect when the revised map became effective. In 2005, the Interagency Levee Policy Review Committee was established by FEMA to develop further guidance on treatment of levees in the NFIP.
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From page 26... ...
The impacts of Katrina have been long-lasting economically, environmentally, and from the perspec tive of human and societal welfare of the city and surrounding area. Levee-related policy was reformed; for example, the National Levee Safety Program Act (2007)
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From page 27... ...
It also recommended the development of a levee hazard potential classification system, tolerable risk guidelines,8 and national levee safety standards; peer review 8 Tolerable risk guidelines "categorize the nature of risks in ways that can assist in assessing their acceptability or non-acceptability, and in prioritizing actions for reducing risks" (USACE, 2010)
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From page 28... ...
In response, FEMA Administrator Fugate directed FEMA staff to replace the without-levee modeling approach with a suite of methodologies that would be technically sound, credible, and cost-effective, and would better meet the needs of citizens while providing more precise results that better reflect the impact of levees on flood risk. This procedure would not replace the need for levee owners or the associated communities to remain engaged in flood risk management activities or change the existing requirements for them to provide levee certification information as outlined in 44 CFR §65.10 (Fugate, 2011a)
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From page 29... ...
Any increase in the risk premium rate charged for flood insurance on any property that is covered by a flood insurance policy on the effective date of such an update that is a result of such updating shall be phased in over a 5-year period, at the rate of 20 percent for each year following such effective date. Related to this report, the FEMA administrator is also directed to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study exploring methods for understanding graduated risk behind levees and the associated land development, insurance, and risk communication dimensions.10 The FEMA administrator is required to form a Technical Mapping Advisory Council to deal with map modernization issues.11 This includes recommendations on how to "ensure that flood insurance rate maps incorporate the best available climate science to assess flood risks" and that the impact of sea level rise is considered.
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From page 30... ...
The Biggert-Waters Act directs the FEMA administrator and the secretary of the Army, acting through the chief of engineers, in cooperation with the National Committee on Levee Safety, to establish a Flood Protection Structure Accreditation Task Force to develop a process to better align the information and data collected by or for USACE's Inspection of Completed Works (ICW) Program with the flood protection structure accreditation requirements so that information and data collected for either purpose can be used interchangeably and information and data collected by or for USACE under the ICW Program are sufficient to satisfy the FEMA flood protection structure accreditation requirements.
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From page 31... ...
1982. A Levee Policy for the National Flood Insurance Program.
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