FLOOD11755

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners - Volume 1: Flood Studies and Mapping
• Date: 4/1/2003
• Prepared By: FEMA
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners [April 2003]

1.2

Mapping Needs Assessment

[February 2002]

Mapping Needs
Assessment

As discussed in Section 1.1, during the Mapping Needs Assessment phase, the community and
FEMA will (l) evaluate of the adequacy of the published Flood Hazard Map and other data, if
FEMA has published such a map, or evaluate whether an unmapped community is floodprone;
and (2) determine whether a Flood Hazard Map (usually a FIRM) should be published.

The Mapping Needs Assessment forms the basis for selecting Flood Map Projects to initiate and,
for those selected, serve as the "building block" for the Project Scoping phase. Further,
Section 575 of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 mandates that at least once
every 5 years FEMA assess the need to revise and update all floodplain areas and flood risk
zones--urenttfied, delineated, ur establishd umlt:l St:diurr-I360 of the National Flood Insurance
Act, as amended. Accordingly, FEMA established the Mapping Needs Assessment process
under which data on mapping needs are collected and then evaluated for the purpose of
identifying and prioritizing potential Flood Map Projects.

FEMA considers two categories of mapping needs:

1, Flood Data Update Needs - Any need to update existing or develop new flood hazard
data (BFEs, floodplain boundaries, and/or regulatory floodway boundaries); and

2. Map Maintenance Update Needs - Any need to change non-engineering reference
features that are important for users to locate property on the FIRMs, such as street and
road locations and names or corporate boundaries. Map maintenance needs do not
require new, updated engineering analyses and do not affect the floodplain delineation.

Mapping Needs Assessment is an ongoing program activity, and FEMA uses a variety of sources
for gathering needs data, including CTPs, community surveys, other Federal and State agencies,
NFIP State Coordinators, Community Assistance Visits and Calls, and FEMA archives. The
mapping needs identified by FEMA and its Mapping Partners are catalogued in the Mapping
Needs Update Support System (MNUSS) database. MNUSS allows FEMA to document and
evaluate the mapping needs of each community and assists in prioritizing Flood Map Projects
comparatively based on the identified needs, thereby identifying the most cost-beneficial Flood
Map Projects to be undertaken. Additional information concerning MNUSS is provided in
Volume 3, Subsection 3.8.2 of these Guidelines.

The flowchart in Figure 1-3 shows the conceptual process for the Mapping Needs Assessment.

1-11

Section 1.2