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INTRODUCTION Background In response to increasing losses from flood hazards nationwide, the Congress of the United States passed the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. The 1968 Act established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Subsequently, the 1968 Act was further expanded by the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. The 1968 Act provided for the availability of flood insurance within communities that were willing to adopt floodplain management programs to mitigate future flood losses. The act also required the identification of all floodplain areas within the United States and the establishment of flood-risk zones within those areas. The responsibility for administration of the NFIP falls with the Federal Insurance Administra~ion of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The risk data to identify floodplain areas, as required by the Act, is acquired through Flood Insurance Studies (FISs). FISs are hydrologic and hydraulic studies of flood risks developed by FEMA. Using the results of a FIS, FEMA prepares a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) that depicts the spatial extent of Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), and other thematic features related to flood risk assessment. SFHAs are areas subject to inundation by a floo~ having a one- percent or greater 'probability of being equaled or exceeded during any given year. ~his flood, which is referred to as the 100-year flood (or base flood), is the' national standard on which the floodplain management and insurance requirements of the NFIP are based. FEMA publishes the FIRM and distributes it to a wide range of users; private citizens, community officials, insurance agents and brokers, lending institu- tions, and other Federal agencies. The FIRM is the basis for floodplain management, mitigation, and insurance activities of the NFIP. Insurance applications include enforcement of the mandatory purchase requirement of the Act which ..... requires the purchase of flood insurance by property owners who are being assisted by Federal programs or by Federally supervised, regulated, or insured agencies or institutions in the acquisition or improvement of land or facilities located or to be located in identified areas having special flood hazards" (Section 2(b)(4) of the 1973 Act). In addition to the identification of SFHAs, the risk zones shown on the FIRMs are the basis for the establishment of premium r~tes for flood coverage offered through the NFIP. At present, FISs have been completed and FIRMs published for virtually all communities in the nation having flood risks. Flood risks have been assessed in approximately 20,400 communities nationwide. These studies, conducted at a cost of over $900,000,000, have resulted in the publication of over 80,000 different FIRM panels. Typically, 6 - 8 million FIRMs are distributed each year by FEMA to users. Over 2.5 million flood insurance policies have been written through the NFIP, providing coverage against the peril of flood for over $200 billion in property nationwide. In addit~o~ to inLtial flood hazard identification studies, FEMA is responsib~e for maintaininq the FIRMs as corrununities grow, new or better scientific and 10/93 i