1.Who makes the flood maps? What are the purposes of the flood maps?
FEMA works with states, communities and the private sector to produce flood maps for communities throughout the United States and its territories. Over 100,000 map panels produced by FEMA provide valuable information for community officials, developers, insurance personnel, surveyors, lending institutions, real estate agents, engineers and private citizens.

Flood maps are used to guide and control development, determine potential risk of flooding, aid in floodplain management, determine a loan's flood insurance requirement, and determine the proper flood insurance rate.

2. What is the difference between a Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM) and a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)?
Used in FEMA's Emergency Program, an FHBM is provided by FEMA and based on approximate data that reflects a general representation of the community's Special Flood Hazard Areas. When a community converts from FEMA's Emergency Program to its Regular Program, FEMA provides the community with a FIRM. Typically, this map is based on a Flood Insurance Study (FIS), which is a detailed floodplain assessment. The FIRM includes the floodplain's Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) and the delineation of the regulatory floodway. This detailed information is used to direct floodplain management and rate flood insurance based upon the actuarial computation of the risk.

3. What is the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)?
An SFHA, otherwise known as the one-percent-annual-chance floodplain, is commonly referred to as the "100-year floodplain." However, FEMA and its communities are moving away from this reference because it can easily be misinterpreted to mean that an area will only flood once every one hundred years. In fact, the true meaning of the term is quite the opposite: In any given year, there is actually a one percent chance or greater that an SFHA will experience flooding that equals or exceeds its boundaries. There are geographic areas that have sustained multiple "100-year" or "one-percent-annual-chance" floods within concurrent years.

On the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM,) the SFHA is shown as a darkly shaded area labeled as a flood zone containing the letters "A" or "V". FIRMs based upon a Flood Insurance Study may include the demarcation of the regulatory floodway within the SFHA.

4. What is the regulatory floodway? Does a lending institution have to report whether or not a property is in the Floodway?
The floodway is the stream channel and the adjacent land area reserved to discharge the one-percent-annual-chance flood without increasing the Base Flood Elevation by more than one foot. Beyond the limits of the regulatory floodway is the flood fringe. These two elements combined make up the SFHA or one-percent-annual-chance floodplain, which is shown on a FIRM or Flood Hazard Boundary Map as a darkly shaded area.

To comply with the mandatory purchase requirement and to complete the Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form, a lending institution is not required to report whether or not a property lies within a regulatory floodway; however, a lending institution is required to determine if a building is located or to be located in an SFHA.

5. What are the flood zones that appear on the flood maps and what do they mean?
We've compiled a list of the various flood zones, including definitions and whether or not the flood insurance requirement applies on properties located within the flood zones.

6. How accurate are the flood maps? Are the flood maps ever revised?

FEMA and its mapping partners (states, communities, and private companies) make every effort to produce flood maps that accurately depict the flooding risk in a given geographic area. With recent technological advances that offer improvements in precision, the accuracy has improved but can still vary depending on the technical data and the resources used to create them. Likewise, with development, population growth and flood mitigation efforts, flood hazard areas within a community change over the course of time, affecting the accuracy of the flood maps. In some communities, the effective maps date back to the 1970s, when the effort to produce flood maps for the entire country began. It is possible that these maps do not accurately reflect the current flood hazard areas for these communities.

FEMA and the federal government recognize the need for map improvements; therefore, the government has committed extensive resources to update its entire inventory of flood maps through the Map Modernization program.

Because there is a limit to the precision with which the flood maps can reflect every rise and fall in the terrain on a given property, FEMA allows individual property owners to submit technical data in an effort to have the flood map amended for their particular property-this is called the Letter of Map Amendment process.

7. What is the Map Modernization program and what are the objectives?

8. What is the future flood hazard area and do the mandatory purchase requirements apply?
The future flood hazard area shows the locations that would be inundated by the one-percent-annual-chance floodplain based upon future hydrology conditions. This determination is based on a community's plan for development and projected growth; the future flood hazard area reflects the changes that will occur to the flood hazard area based upon that plan. A community has the choice to have the future flood hazard area appear on its flood maps. If shown, it appears as a lightly shaded area on the flood map (similar to the shaded X zone) and is labeled as "X (FUTURE)."

The mandatory purchase of flood insurance requirement does not apply to properties located within the future flood hazard area.

9. What is a Coastal Barrier Resource Area (CBRA)? Does the flood insurance purchase requirement apply to loans secured by properties located in a CBRA?
A Coastal Barrier Resource Area (CBRA) is a geographic area designated by Congress that is protected from development because of its rich biological habitats and geologic features. CBRAs are part of the Coastal Barrier Resource System (CBRS) and are regulated by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service which also created the CBRS maps. FEMA includes the CBRS on its Flood Insurance Rate Maps as well for use by lenders and insurers.

Since the passage of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982, federal funds in the form of a loan, insurance payment, subsidy, grant, or guarantee are prohibited except for certain emergency situations. No federally backed loans can be made for the purpose of constructing or purchasing improved property in a CBRA. Federal flood insurance is not available on properties that were built, or substantially improved, after the area was designated as a CBRA. Even though conventional loans can be made to purchase improved property in these areas, lending institutions should be aware that such loans would not be protected by flood insurance.

As for the mandatory purchase of flood insurance requirements, lending institutions are required to determine if the buildings on these properties are within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). If so, then the date of the building's construction is compared with the CBRA designation date to determine flood insurance availability. Again, if the building was constructed after the date of the CBRA designation, then federal flood insurance is not available.

The same requirements and restrictions apply to Otherwise Protected Areas (OPAs), which are also shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps. OPAs are undeveloped coastal areas used primarily for wildlife refuge or resource conservation purposes.


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