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FEMA Region 1 - Flood Map Updates Guide
What do FEMA flood map Changes Mean for You?
FEMA flood maps, officially called Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMS, may be changing in your area. You may be a local community official, a professional such as a real estate agent or surveyor, or a resident of a community that is getting updated FEMA Flood Maps. Your role will determine what information you will need and when it is best to engage with the process.
For Local Community Officials, it is recommended that you follow along through the entire FIRM update process. While there are many opportunities to provide input, early input is always appreciated and will give FEMA the best opportunity to efficiently incorporate your suggestions and address your concerns. As the process continues, you will be called upon to provide accurate information to professionals and residents in your community as well.
For Professionals in the area that have an interest in the FIRMs, you should begin to pay close attention once the maps enter the preliminary phase. Examples of professionals who may have an interest are home builders, surveyors, real estate agents, and insurance agents. Flood map changes will impact decisions that your customers will make, and familiarizing yourself with the process and implications will help you serve them better.
For Residents of an area under study, you should begin to pay close attention once the FIRMs enter the preliminary phase. At this point, you can ask questions and prepare for the day when the new maps become effective. Proactive planning and actions will allow you to have a more complete understanding of your flood risk and make proactive decisions about flood insurance.
This interactive site will help local stakeholders who would like to understand more about FEMA FIRM update process and schedule, why the FIRMs are being updated, how they can provide input, and what new FIRMs mean to them. Scroll down to learn all about the FIRM update process and what you can expect in the future.
Why are flood maps important?
FEMA FIRMs are used for a variety of purposes. One important purpose is for floodplain management. Floodplain management refers to the set of regulations that are in place to assure that buildings built or substantially improved in flood zones are built in a way to minimize flood damage and maximize resilience during a flood. Local community officials are responsible for implementing a floodplain management ordinance, and the flood maps dictate what kinds of construction is permitted and how high a building must be elevated. FEMA FIRMs are also used for flood insurance. The FIRMs will determine if flood insurance will be required by your bank in order to comply with federal banking regulations.
Why is FEMA updating my flood maps?
FEMA is responsible for creating and updating flood maps throughout the country. In some areas, FEMA may have never created flood maps and in other areas, the flood maps have been to determined to be out of date. FEMA uses the latest technology and data to ensure that the flood risks shown on the maps are as up to date and accurate as possible. If FEMA is conducting a flood map study in your area, FEMA has determined that new data or technology exists that will be able to create a flood map the is more accurate and better represents today's risk of flooding.
What is the History of FEMA flood maps?
The format and style of FEMA FIRMs have changed since FEMA's first FIRMs were developed in the 1970s. Depending on your location, you may be in an area with older or newer style maps. This section provides a brief overview of the history of FEMA FIRMs. As you will see, the newer maps are much easier to use and interpret.
What are the steps in the Flood Map Revision Process?
Updating a FEMA FIRM is a multi-year process with many opportunities for local and community input. A general timeline for a typical FIRM update project in Region 1 is described below, however each project is unique and timelines can vary for individual projects.
The Discovery Process (average 18-24 months)
During this phase, FEMA, state, and local leaders collect current and historic flood-related data and then meet to review this data to get a complete picture of the area’s flood risk. This information helps determine whether a flood map revision is needed and, if so, what the scope of the project will be. This is a great opportunity for local community officials to influence what streams, rivers, lakes, ponds or coastal areas are prioritized for restudy by FEMA.
Data and Product Development (average 12-18 months)
Once a flood risk map revision project starts, FEMA and its mapping partners begin preparing the data, maps and flood risk products. These products include the regulatory Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report used for floodplain management and insurance requirements, and may also include non-regulatory flood risk products which can be used by community officials to support mitigation, community planning and public outreach efforts.
The Flood Risk Review Meeting (occurs during Data and Product Development phase)
As part of the data and product development process, and once initial drafts of the revised FIRMS are ready, a Flood Risk Review Meeting (sometimes called a Workmap Meeting) will be organized to give local community officials a chance to review and provide early feedback on the draft FIRMs. FEMA encourages local community official input at this meeting and will work one on one with communities to gather this input. Community input is especially valuable at this stage because any issues identified with the FIRMs can be corrected efficiently as part of the review process before preliminary maps are issued.
Distribution of Preliminary Maps and Data (average 6-9 months after the Flood Risk Review Meeting)
Once all comments from the Flood Risk Review meetings are received and addressed, preliminary versions of the FIRM and FIS report are delivered to community officials and posted publicly through FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center website. These products will show new or updated flood hazard data which will affect floodplain development requirements and/or flood insurance rates in communities once effective. Local community officials can begin to share and discuss these maps with their residents if they wish.
The Consultation Coordination Officer Meeting (average 2-3 months after Preliminary Maps released)
After the release of preliminary FIRMs and FIS reports, FEMA holds a meeting to present them to community officials, called the Consultation Coordination Officer (CCO) Meeting. Any changes in flood risk will be explained and community officials will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the products and prepare for the 90 day appeal period.
The 90-Day Appeal Period (starts about 4-6 months after Preliminary Maps released)
A 90-day appeal period for communities impacted by the map revision begins after a public notification process is completed. During this period, communities or the public (through their community officials) can submit data to revise the FIRM if they believe the preliminary FIRM is scientifically or technically incorrect. FEMA will review all appeals and, if necessary, make changes to the FIRM, based on the information submitted.
Effective FIRM and FIS Report Issuance via a Letter of Final Determination (average 12 months after appeal period ends)
After all appeals are received and resolved, FEMA sends community officials a Letter of Final Determination (LFD) exactly six months before the new FIRMs become effective. This beings the "adoption period." The LFD is an indication to communities that the maps have been finalized and no further changes will be made. At this point the maps are referred to as pending maps because they have been finalized but will not be effective until the adoption period is over. During this six-month period, communities must adopt or amend their local floodplain management ordinance to reflect the new maps.
Public Open House (average 3 months after Letter of Final Determination)
After the release of pending FIRMs and FIS reports, FEMA holds meetings to present them to the general public. Citizens in the study area are invited to hear about the map revisions process, view the new maps and meet with FEMA mapping and flood insurance experts one on one to discuss what the FIRM update means for their specific property and their flood insurance. Citizens can use this information to make proactive decisions about flood insurance before the effective date.
Map Effective Date (exactly 6 months after Letter of Final Determination
This is the date on which the new FIRMs are officially in effect. Once the new FIRM takes effect, it will be available through FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center and the National Flood Hazard Layer . At this point, floodplain development and flood insurance requirements will be based on the new effective map. In addition, if a community has not adopted the maps by the effective date, the community will be removed from the National Flood Insurance Program. Finally, at this point, lenders will begin reviewing their portfolios and notifying any homeowners if their property will now require flood insurance (this notification could take up to a few months after the effective date).
What new data does FEMA use to revise the maps?
If your maps are being revised, there are many different types of up to date data that may now be available in your area to assist FEMA in updating the FIRMs. Examples include:
A surveyor gathering field data on infrastructure and hydraulics.
Infrastructure data - Structures along rivers and coasts, such as bridges, culverts, dams, seawalls and others, may have been installed or altered since the last FIRM was produced.
Hydrology - Hydrology refers to the amount of rainfall and water present in the study area and how that water moves through the landscape. Updated data, such as rainfall rates and developed area in the watershed may be available.
Hydraulics - Hydraulics refers to how water moves in streams, ditches, channels, pipes and culverts. Updated hydraulic models may be available for FEMA to use in the study area.
Elevation Data - Accurate ground elevation data (also called topographic data) is essential to developing accurate flood zone boundaries on the FIRMs. For most FEMA studies, more up to date elevation data is available based on recent lidar. Lidar, which is an acronym that stands for "light detection and ranging", is a technology that uses intense, focused beams of light and measures the time it takes for the reflections to be detected by a sensor. This information is used to compute ranges, or distances, to objects. Lidar is analogous to radar (radio detecting and ranging), except that it is based on discrete pulses of laser light. When an aircraft is equipped with a lidar sensor, it can be used to generate highly detailed elevation information as it flies over a given area.
Climate change and sea level rise - A common question about the FIRMs is whether or not they consider climate change and sea level rise. The FIRMs are designed to be a snapshot in time that reflect current flood risk on the day they are produced. FIRMs do not show future conditions. Therefore, to the extent that climate change or sea level rise has already occurred before the study occurs, that information is reflected on the FIRM. However, no data on future projections are used to create FIRMs. The reason for this policy is that FIRMs are used for regulatory purposes, such flood insurance requirements. For those purposes, it is appropriate to use today's risk, rather than future risk. FEMA Region 1 does produce some non-regulatory products showing future conditions, such as the FEMA Region 1 Coastal Hazard Erosion Map .
How will my map change?
There are different kinds of restudy, including: Approximate/Base Level Engineering, Redelineation and New Detailed Study. One or more of these may be used in your area as part of a FIRM update. In fact, it is common that all three are used by FEMA as part of a single restudy project. Scroll below to see examples of each. The type of restudy in any given area will be based on the needs identified during the discovery process.
What areas are currently being restudied by FEMA Region 1?
FEMA Region 1 typically has many studies underway in New England at any given time. Since these are multiyear projects, they are in various phases across the Region. The map below provides the current status of those projects. For more information on a particular project, please contact your local community officials or your state floodplain coordinator.
Region 1 Map Project Status
Where can I get the new maps?
All FEMA flood map products are available on FEMA's Map Service Center (MSC) website, located at https://msc.fema.gov/ . On the MSC, you will find all current, historic, preliminary and pending FIRMs, including GIS data (where available). In Region 1, there is also an option to view any pending maps in an interactive online viewer. The step by step process for finding information using both of these tools is described below.
How can I compare old and new maps? (an Interactive Tool for Pending Maps)
Now it is your turn to explore maps in Region 1 that will soon become effective. The tool below shows the current effective maps as well as all of the maps that are pending in Region 1. A pending map is a map that is not yet in effect, but will be effective within the next 6 months. Slide the vertical bar on the tool below to swipe back and forth between the current effective map (on the left) and pending map (on the right). Note that for the pending maps, large parts (or sometimes all parts) of New England there may not be any flood data visible. In these areas, there are no pending maps, so no map changes will occur in the next 6 months and the current effective maps will remain in effect until a new study is completed. Using this tool, you can quickly located areas with pending maps by zooming out and looking for areas shaded in blue on the map on the right.
This tool can also be accessed directly by following this link: FEMA Region 1 Pending FIRM Comparison Tool .
FEMA Region 1 Pending vs Effective NFHL Tool Basic
How will this Affect Letters of Map Change?
A Letter of Map Change (LOMC) is the name for the formal process by which property owners can appeal the flood zone designation of the their building or property. There are two types of Letters of Map Change (LOMC), a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR).
If you have received an LOMC in the past, you should pay close attention to a FIRM update. In particular, you should check in with your local community officials and ask them to review the Summary or Map Actions (SOMA) document. FEMA produces a SOMA for every community located in the study area that describes how the new study will impact all currently effective LOMAs or LOMRs in a community. As part of the map update process, each LOMA or LOMR is classified into one of 4 categories. The categories are:
An example of a SOMA document.
1) LOMCs Incorporated - This refers to LOMCs that are still valid and will be depicted on the new maps when they become effective.
2) LOMCs Not Incorporated - This refers to LOMCs that are still valid but will not be shown on the revised maps because of scale limitations. Since these LOMCs are still valid, typically no action is required on the part of the property owner. These LOMCs will be revalidated free of charge 1 day after the revised FIRM becomes effective through a single revalidation letter that reaffirms the validity of the previous LOMCs.
3) LOMCs Superseded - This refers to LOMCs that will no longer be valid when the revised FIRM becomes effective. The SOMA will provide a reason why the LOMC is no longer valid. Property owners who have property on this list should consult with their insurance agent before the revised maps become effective as having a LOMC superseded will likely impact flood insurance requirements.
4) LOMCs To Be Redetermined - This refers to LOMCs whose status under the revised FIRM can not be determined without further information. This status is uncommon. If you have property on this list, contact FEMA for more information.
If your LOMC falls into Category 1 or Category 2, your LOMC is still valid and you will likely not experience any major changes with flood insurance or floodplain management. You will also continue to be able to transfer the LOMA to a new owner as part of a real estate transaction.
If your LOMC falls into Category 3 or Category 4, your LOMC will not longer be valid once the pending map becomes effective. It is highly recommended that you speak to your local officials or your flood insurance agent to understand what this means for you and your property. Having these conversations before the map change will ensure you have enough time to be ready for the implications on the date the FIRM becomes effective.
What about Flood Insurance?
Will a map update impact my requirement to purchase flood insurance for my home or business?
Possibly. Lenders are subject to a Federal Law that requires the lender to have flood insurance on any building located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (FEMA Flood Zones beginning with either the letter "A" or the letter "V") that is acting as security for a federally-backed loan. When you become aware that FEMA Flood Zones Maps may be in the process of being changed, we suggest you work with your community officials to find how that pending change may effect your building’s Flood Zone. Many of the larger communities may post images of the pending maps so you can see if your building’s location is changing Flood Zones when the map takes effect. A map change may have no impact on your building’s flood zone, change your building’s flood zone to a Special Hazard Flood Zone, or remove the building from a Special Hazard Flood Area. NFIP Flood Insurance Policies are available to most buildings regardless of the FEMA Flood Zone they are in. Over 30% of all flood insurance claims that the NFIP pays are for flood damage to buildings that are not in Special Flood Hazard Areas.
Will a map update change the cost of my flood insurance?
Most likely no. In the past, a change in flood zone usually caused a change in the cost of flood insurance. This is no longer the case. Beginning on October 1, 2021 FEMA has updated the National Flood Insurance Program's risk rating methodology through the implementation of a new pricing methodology called Risk Rating 2.0. The new premium development methodology leverages industry best practices and cutting-edge technology to enable FEMA to deliver rates that are actuarially sound, equitable, easier to understand and better reflect an individual property’s flood risk. The new methodology uses actual elevation and distance data specific to the building location. That includes calculating the distance from water that could be the source of a potential flood such as a river, lake or ocean, as well as the building’s elevation relative to the potential source of the flooding. There are many other factors specific to the building that contribute to what will be that building’s actual premium as well, but the FEMA Flood Zone is not one of them.
To learn more about the importance of flood insurance and how to get it, please see: https://www.floodsmart.gov/
For more information on the new Risk Rating 2.0 methodology, please see the following link: https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/risk-rating
For More Information
Those are the basics of FEMA FIRM updates. If you have further questions or want to discuss a specific map update project your area, please contact you local officials or your state floodplain management program. You can also contact FEMA Region 1 at fema-r1-info@fema.dhs.gov .
This site was created by FEMA Region 1, the FEMA Region that produces flood maps for all six New England states. If you are located outside Region 1, please contact your FEMA regional office for more specific information about your area.
Map showing the boundaries of all FEMA Regions.