Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices's Books

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Improving Policies and Practices

By: National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices

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Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Improving Policies and Practices

By: National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is a cornerstone in the U.S. strategy to assist communities to prepare for, mitigate against, and recover from flood disasters. The NFIP was established by Congress with passage of the National Flood Insurance Act in 1968, to help reduce future flood damages through NFIP community floodplain regulation that would control development in flood hazard areas, provide insurance for a premium to property owners, and reduce federal expenditures for disaster assistance. The flood insurance is available only to owners of insurable property located in communities that participate in the NFIP. Currently, the program has 5,555,915 million policies in 21,881 communities3 across the United States. The NFIP defines the one percent annual chance flood (100-year or base flood) floodplain as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). The SFHA is delineated on FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM's) using topographic, meteorologic, hydrologic, and hydraulic information. Property owners with a federally back mortgage within the SFHAs are required to purchase and retain flood insurance, called the mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement (MPR). Levees and floodwalls, hereafter referred to as levees, have been part of flood management in the United States since the late 1700's because they are relatively easy to build and a reasonable infrastructure investment. A levee is a man-made structure, usually an earthen embankment, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water so as to provide protection from temporary flooding. A levee system is a flood protection system which consists of a levee, or levees, and associated structures, such as closure and drainage devices, which are constructed and operated in accordance with sound engineering practices. Recognizing the need for improving the NFIP's treatment of levees, FEMA officials approached the National Research Council's (NRC) Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) and requested this study. The NRC responded by forming the ad hoc Committee on Levee and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices, charged to examine current FEMA treatment of levees within the NFIP and provide advice on how those levee-elated policies and activities could be improved. The study addressed four broad areas, risk analysis, flood insurance, risk reduction, and risk communication, regarding how levees are considered in the NFIP. Specific issues within these areas include current risk analysis and mapping procedures behind accredited and non-accredited levees, flood insurance pricing and the mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement, mitigation options to reduce risk for communities with levees, flood risk communication efforts, and the concept of shared responsibility. The principal conclusions and recommendations are highlighted in this report.

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275

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309282934

ISBN 13

9780309282932

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Improving Policies and Practices

By: National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices

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Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Improving Policies and Practices

By: National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices

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275

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National Academies Press

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0309282934

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9780309282932

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Report 2

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Committee on National Statistics,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

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Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Report 2

When Congress authorized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968, it intended for the program to encourage community initiatives in flood risk management, charge insurance premiums consistent with actuarial pricing principles, and encourage the purchase of flood insurance by owners of flood prone properties, in part, by offering affordable premiums. The NFIP has been reauthorized many times since 1968, most recently with the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW 2012). In this most recent reauthorization, Congress placed a particular emphasis on setting flood insurance premiums following actuarial pricing principles, which was motivated by a desire to ensure future revenues were adequate to pay claims and administrative expenses. BW 2012 was designed to move the NFIP towards risk-based premiums for all flood insurance policies. The result was to be increased premiums for some policyholders that had been paying less than NFIP risk-based premiums and to possibly increase premiums for all policyholders. Recognition of this possibility and concern for the affordability of flood insurance is reflected in sections of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA 2014). These sections called on FEMA to propose a draft affordability framework for the NFIP after completing an analysis of the efforts of possible programs for offering "means-tested assistance" to policyholders for whom higher rates may not be affordable. BW 2012 and HFIAA 2014 mandated that FEMA conduct a study, in cooperation with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which would compare the costs of a program of risk-based rates and means-tested assistance to the current system of subsidized flood insurance rates and federally funded disaster relief for people without coverage. Production of two reports was agreed upon to fulfill this mandate. This second report proposes alternative approaches for a national evaluation of affordability program policy options and includes lessons for the design of a national study from a proof-of-concept pilot study.

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151

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309380774

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9780309380775

Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Risk-Based Methods for Insurance Premiums of Negatively Elevated Structures in the National Flood Insurance Program

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Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain

Floods take a heavy toll on society, costing lives, damaging buildings and property, disrupting livelihoods, and sometimes necessitating federal disaster relief, which has risen to record levels in recent years. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created in 1968 to reduce the flood risk to individuals and their reliance on federal disaster relief by making federal flood insurance available to residents and businesses if their community adopted floodplain management ordinances and minimum standards for new construction in flood prone areas. Insurance rates for structures built after a flood plain map was adopted by the community were intended to reflect the actual risk of flooding, taking into account the likelihood of inundation, the elevation of the structure, and the relationship of inundation to damage to the structure. Today, rates are subsidized for one-fifth of the NFIP's 5.5 million policies. Most of these structures are negatively elevated, that is, the elevation of the lowest floor is lower than the NFIP construction standard. Compared to structures built above the base flood elevation, negatively elevated structures are more likely to incur a loss because they are inundated more frequently, and the depths and durations of inundation are greater. Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain studies the pricing of negatively elevated structures in the NFIP. This report review current NFIP methods for calculating risk-based premiums for these structures, including risk analysis, flood maps, and engineering data. The report then evaluates alternative approaches for calculating risk-based premiums and discusses engineering hydrologic and property assessment data needs to implement full risk-based premiums. The findings and conclusions of this report will help to improve the accuracy and precision of loss estimates for negatively elevated structures, which in turn will increase the credibility, fairness, and transparency of premiums for policyholders.

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167

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309371694

ISBN 13

9780309371698

Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies

By: National Research Council,Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Risk-Based Analysis for Flood Damage Reduction

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Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies

By: National Research Council,Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Risk-Based Analysis for Flood Damage Reduction

Reducing flood damage is a complex task that requires multidisciplinary understanding of the earth sciences and civil engineering. In addressing this task the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employs its expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, and geotechnical and structural engineering. Dams, levees, and other river-training works must be sized to local conditions; geotechnical theories and applications help ensure that structures will safely withstand potential hydraulic and seismic forces; and economic considerations must be balanced to ensure that reductions in flood damages are proportionate with project costs and associated impacts on social, economic, and environmental values. A new National Research Council report, Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies, reviews the Corps of Engineers' risk-based techniques in its flood damage reduction studies and makes recommendations for improving these techniques. Areas in which the Corps has made good progress are noted, and several steps that could improve the Corps' risk-based techniques in engineering and economics applications for flood damage reduction are identified. The report also includes recommendations for improving the federal levee certification program, for broadening the scope of flood damage reduction planning, and for improving communication of risk-based concepts.

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216

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National Academies Press

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0309132894

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9780309132893

A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Water Science and Technology Board,Committee on Community-Based Flood Insurance Options

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A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option

River and coastal floods are among the nation's most costly natural disasters. One component in the nation's approach to managing flood risk is availability of flood insurance policies, which are offered on an individual basis primarily through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Established in 1968, the NFIP is overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and there are about 5.4 million individual policies in the NFIP. The program has experienced a mixture of successes and persistent challenges. Successes include a large number of policy holders, the insurance of approximately $1.3 trillion of property, and the fact that the large majority of policy holders - 80% - pay rates that are risk based. NFIP challenges include large program debt, relatively low rates of purchase in many flood-prone areas, a host of issues regarding affordability of premiums, ensuring that premiums collected cover payouts and administrative fees, and a large number of properties that experience severe repetitive flood losses. At the request of FEMA, A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option identifies a range of key issues and questions that would merit consideration and further analysis as part of a community-based flood insurance program. As the report describes, the community-based option certainly offers potential benefits, such as the prospect of providing coverage for all (or nearly all) at-risk residents and properties in flood-prone communities. At the same time, many current challenges facing the NFIP may not necessarily be resolved by a community-based approach. This report discusses these and other prominent issues to be considered and further assessed.

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Page Count

141

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National Academies Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0309374715

ISBN 13

9780309374712

Book's by Committee on Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program: Improving Policies and Practices

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Levees and the National Flood Insurance Program

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums

Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain

Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain

Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies

Risk Analysis and Uncertainty in Flood Damage Reduction Studies

A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option

A Community-Based Flood Insurance Option

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