Source: ASFPM The Insider, July 2024
On July 10, FEMA finalized a rule requiring that projects built using its funds not only take into account previous and current levels of local flood risk, but for the first time consider the future risk of flooding, which is being exacerbated by climate change.
The new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS), which takes effect on Sept. 9, 2024, will result in higher-elevated and better-fortified buildings, and could help break the cycle of destruction and reconstruction that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars over the past few decades.
This rule allows FEMA to consider the best available science in making projects and communities more resilient to increased flood conditions. The standard applies to FEMA-funded actions involving new construction, substantial improvement, or repairs to substantial damage. This includes applying to grants under FEMA programs such as Individual Assistance (IA), Public Assistance (PA), and Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA), as well as grants processed by FEMA’s Grants Programs Directorate (GPD) involving grants for preparedness activities.
FFRMS applies to Hazard Mitigation Assistance projects involving structure elevation, dry floodproofing and mitigation reconstruction. This rule also puts greater emphasis on natural features or nature-based solutions, wherever possible.
“Previous approaches, based on historical data, have become outdated,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in remarks to reporters. “By using the best available science,” she said, the agency will be strengthened in “protecting federal investments and reducing the risk of damage and loss.”
Expansion of the Floodplain
As climate change and other threats have increased flood risk across much of the United States, the FFRMS allows FEMA to consider the best available and actionable climate science in making projects and communities more resilient to increases in flood conditions due to sea level rise and other environmental changes.
Prior to the FFRMS, FEMA required non-critical projects to be protected to the 1% annual chance (100-year) flood to minimize flood risk. Critical projects, like the construction of fire and police stations, hospitals and facilities that store hazardous materials, had to be protected to the 0.2% annual chance (500-year) flood. This standard reflected only current flood risk. The FFRMS will increase the flood elevation (how high) and floodplain (how wide) to reflect future, as well as current, flood risk for actions subject to the standard.
“The federal government really has a duty to account for a future flood risk when it’s providing funding to build or rebuild homes or infrastructure, because it’s using taxpayer dollars,” Joel Scata, a senior attorney at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council and an expert on flood policy told The Grist. Under the new rule, he said, FEMA is “going to be building in a way that’s not setting people and infrastructure up for future failure.”
Implementing the FFRMS is an important step toward mitigating future flood risk that will benefit communities by allowing them to avoid or recover from future disasters more efficiently and effectively. Communities can protect against future flood risk by building outside of the floodplain, elevating, floodproofing, or using nature-based solutions.
“By using common-sense solutions like elevating or floodproofing critical infrastructure, today’s rule will help local communities harness the best in science and engineering to better prepare for flood risks from rising sea levels and damaging storms,” said National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.
ASFPM has been involved in the FFRMS since it was first introduced during the Obama Administration. The recent addition of the Federal Flood Standard Support Tool, which can help anyone determine the FFRMS floodplain (both vertical and horizontal), is a key benefit in the current environment.
“In one respect, having the rule go final this time around, there are resources to support FEMA, applicant and subapplicant compliance with the rule — having the Flood Standard Support Tool is a game changer,” said Chad Berginnis, ASFPM Executive Director. “It is great to see strong, implementable FFRMS requirements first from HUD in April and now FEMA. Kudos to the Administration for seeing this through.”
CRS Request for Information
In addition to the FFRMS news, FEMA also issued a Request for Information (RFI) to receive the public’s input on potential future changes to the Community Rating System (CRS). This RFI seeks further input on suggested alternative program features and approaches for a redesigned CRS program, based upon public input from the August 23, 2021 “Request for Information on the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System” published in the Federal Register.
FEMA will host virtual public meetings at the times and dates listed in the RFI announcement. All comments are due Sept. 9, 2024.
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