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<br />disproportionate share of people have moved into
<br />coastal communities, near rivers and lakes, and into
<br />other high-hazard areas (e,g., mountain sides and
<br />seismic zones). At the same time, technological trends
<br />(e.g., geographic information systems) have made it
<br />possible to track and project floodplain conditions.
<br />Also, past flooding events have increased the amount of
<br />scientific knowledge about floods, which, in turn, has
<br />created greater awareness of the consequences of
<br />developing in hazardous areas. On the policy side, since
<br />its inception the 1968, the National Flood Insurance
<br />Program (NFIP), has advocated nonstructural strategies
<br />and has encouraged communities that participate in the
<br />program to manage their river corridors for multiple
<br />purposes (Le., recreation and economic development)
<br />and to protect and maintain the natural functions of the
<br />floodplain, (A fuller description of NFIP is provided
<br />below.) Furthermore, the ongoing demand for federal
<br />funds to be spent on disaster relief has rankled
<br />taxpayers, bringing the question, Why should we have
<br />to pay for this?, to the attention of the media and
<br />lawmakers.
<br />This shift in policy from structural to nonstructural
<br />floodplain management solutions plays out most
<br />dramatically at the local level, where the majority of
<br />decisions about the use of land and the location of
<br />utilities and infrastructure are made. It is there that
<br />planners and local officials must face the tough choices
<br />of limiting and prohibiting development in floodplains,
<br />in some cases having to say No to residents who want
<br />to rebuild homes and businesses that have been
<br />destroyed by floods.
<br />From an environmental and, in many cases, an
<br />economic standpoint, the best possible course for a local
<br />government is a total prohibition of floodplain
<br />development. But such a prohibition is not a practical
<br />alternative in many communities. There are political
<br />constraints in the form of resistance to government-
<br />imposed restrictions on the use of private land. There
<br />are also market forces-floodplains may be the most
<br />attractive places for development, and there is pressure
<br />to meet consumer demand. And, in communities that
<br />are fully developed, building in the floodplain may be
<br />only place for a community to grow. Given these
<br />scenarios, some amount of development in the
<br />floodplain is a given. It then follows that local planning
<br />and land-use controls offer the best hope for
<br />minimizing the effects of development in floodplains.
<br />As a part of this change in floodplain management
<br />philosophy-and largely because of the reqtrirements of
<br />NFIP-thousands of communities have adopted
<br />floodplain management plans and zoning, subdivision,
<br />and drainage ordinances in the past several decades,
<br />Such land-use controls determine where and how
<br />development may occur in floodplains and today are
<br />considered the key to implementing a nonstructural
<br />approach to reducing flood losses and protecting the
<br />natural functions of floodplains. (See Chapters 3 and 4.)
<br />
<br />AN OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL FLOOD
<br />INSURANCE PROGRAM
<br />In the face of mounting flood losses and the
<br />escalating costs to the general taxpayers of flood
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<br />disaster relief, Congress, with the passage of the
<br />National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, created NFIP to
<br />reduce flood hazards, to protect public safety and
<br />property, and to lift from the general public the burden
<br />of paying for disaster relief costs caused by flooding.
<br />NFIP was broadened and modified with the passage of
<br />the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and other
<br />legislative measures. The program is administered by
<br />the Federal Insurance Administration (FIA) and the
<br />Mitigation Directorate, divisions of the Federal
<br />Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
<br />Property owners may purchase flood insurance
<br />through NFIP only if their community has chosen to
<br />participate in the program. The program is designed to
<br />achieve its public safety and other goals by:
<br />
<br />1) requiring that new buildings be constructed to resist
<br />flood damages;
<br />
<br />2) guiding future development away from flood hazard
<br />areas; and
<br />
<br />3) transferring the costs of flood losses from American
<br />taxpayers to floodplain property owners through
<br />flood insurance premiums.
<br />
<br />Through NFIP, flood insurance is available to
<br />millions of property owners. As of July 1997, more than
<br />19,000 communities were participating in NFIP-there
<br />were 3.7 million flood insurance policies in force with a
<br />total coverage of $407 billion. In the period from 1978 to
<br />1995, FIA paid out nearly $6.4 billion to cover 664,000
<br />property losses.
<br />The following sections describe how NFIP works. The
<br />federal/local compact that is at the heart of the program
<br />is described first, including a description of how NFIP is
<br />administered, followed by a brief discussion of FEMA
<br />mapping of flood hazard areas and how these maps
<br />apply to the provisions of the program, and, finally,
<br />NFIP minimum standards are summarized.
<br />
<br />How NFIP Works-The Federal/Local Compact
<br />The NFIP strategy is to provide the benefits of
<br />federally backed flood insurance coverage in return for
<br />mitigation of flood risks through community regulation
<br />of floodplain development. As mentioned above,
<br />communities accomplish this by incorporating
<br />floodplain management provisions in their zoning and
<br />subdivision regulations or by adopting a separate
<br />floodplain management ordinance. These regulations
<br />must contain NFIP minimum standards for flood
<br />damage reduction. Although NFIP participation is
<br />voluntary, some states require participation as part of
<br />their state floodplain management program, A general
<br />description of NFIP minimum requirements is provided
<br />in a subsection below. The specifics of how these
<br />requirements apply to subdivision design and
<br />permitting processes will be described in later chapters.
<br />The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 allows
<br />FEMA to make flood insurance available only in those
<br />areas where the local government has adopted and
<br />agrees to enforce adequate floodplain management
<br />regulations, Without community oversight of
<br />development in the floodplain, the best efforts of some
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