Changes to Flood Risk Analysis & Mapping Policy

Review of Changes to the Policy for Flood Risk Analysis & Mapping


The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) maintains guidelines and standards to support the Risk MAP program. These guidelines and standards define the specific implementation of the statutory and regulatory requirements for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) flood risk analysis and mapping, and address the performance of flood risk projects, processing of letters of map change and related Risk MAP activities.

Guideline Improvement Project


In 2011, FEMA undertook a multi-year project to improve the way guidelines and standards are published, maintained and used. The final product of the initial phase of work was the Policy for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping, published in August 2013, which comprises the standards for practitioners of the Risk MAP program.

Published Updates


This policy outlines FEMA's requirements to produce better overall consistency and more efficient operation of mapping activities. FEMA has established a maintenance plan for the Risk MAP Guidelines and Standards and plans to issue updates on a semi-annual basis. As part of this first semi-annual update, there are 2 new proposed standards and 1 revision to an existing standard. FEMA intends to publish these standards as a part of the Policy for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping (PDF).  The included draft standards are being made available for public review to provide an opportunity for comment prior to incorporation into the policy.

For More Information


More information on the guidelines and standards for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping is available on the FEMA website.

Proposed Changes

SID Number
 Keyword Tags
 Primary Keyword
 Original Standard
 Revised / New Standard
387 (revised) Post-Preliminary; Coordination; Federal Register Fed Register The proposed Federal Register Flood Hazard Determination Notices shall be compiled for all communities affected by the addition or modification of flood hazards for concurrence and signature by FEMA and publication in the Federal Register. The Proposed Notice shall then be submitted to the designated FEMA coordinator for routing, concurrence, and signature.

The FEMA coordinator shall coordinate with Office of Federal Register to ensure timely publication of the Proposed Notice in the Federal Register. The published Proposed Notice must then be reviewed to ensure accuracy; corrections (if needed) must be made, and other Project Team members must be notified.		 The appropriate Federal Register Flood Hazard Determinations Notice proposing changes to flood hazard information shall be compiled for all communities affected by the addition or modification of flood hazards (i.e., the Proposed Notice for flood risk studies and the Interim Notice for LOMRs). The Notice shall include a hyperlink for the official FEMA website through which stakeholders can access the products depicting the proposed flood hazard changes. The Notice shall be submitted to the designated FEMA coordinator to route for concurrence and signature.

FEMA shall coordinate with Office of Federal Register to ensure timely publication of the Notice in the Federal Register. The published Notice must be reviewed to ensure accuracy; if needed, corrections must be made, and other Project Team members must be notified of the correction.
601 (new) Flood Insurance Study (FIS); FIRM Database; Regulatory Products; FIRM FIS / FIRM Standard The Community Map Repository address for each community listed in the Federal Register Flood Hazard Determination notice must be a physical address (i.e., not a P.O. Box) confirmed by the community.  Additionally, the repository address must be consistent among all related products (FIS, FIRM Index, FIRM Database, FHD Web tool, and Federal Register), both hard copy and online versions, before starting the 90-day appeal period.
602 (new) Levees; NLD
 Levee
 New Standard
 For Flood Risk Projects, communities, levee owners, mapping partners and FEMA shall leverage data and documentation (e.g. USACE inspections, screenings, risk assessments, etc…) when available in the USACE National Levee Database (NLD) and/or from local communities, tribal entities, State agencies, and other Federal agencies.