ASFPM CFM cheat sheet

The NFIP was created by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and is administered by FEMA; a community must adopt and enforce ordinances meeting the 44 CFR 60.3 minimum standards for flood insurance to be sold there.

'Development' subject to permit review means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including filling, grading, paving, excavation, and the placement of manufactured homes.

Pre-FIRM construction is a structure built before the effective date of the community's initial FIRM or before December 31, 1974, whichever is later; such structures may be rated at subsidized rates.

Substantial improvement and substantial damage both use a 50 percent test: cost equals or exceeds half the market value of the structure before the work or damage, excluding land value. Meeting the test forces the structure to comply with new-construction standards.

Residential structures in A zones must have the lowest floor, including basement, at or above the BFE. Nonresidential structures may instead be dry floodproofed to the BFE with a certified design.

In V zones, new construction and substantial improvements must be elevated on pilings or columns with the lowest horizontal structural member at or above the BFE; fill for structural support is prohibited and enclosures below the BFE must be breakaway.

Enclosed areas below the lowest floor are permitted only for parking, building access, or storage and must have flood openings: at least two on different walls, total net area of 1 square inch per 1 square foot enclosed, bottoms within 12 inches of grade.

The community must require permits, review development, make inspections, and retain elevation and floodproofing records for the life of the structure.

Federal mandatory purchase applies to federally regulated lenders, requiring flood insurance on structures in the SFHA for the life of the loan.

The Special Flood Hazard Area is the land inundated by the base flood, the 1 percent annual chance flood, and appears on FIRMs as zones A, AE, A1-A30, AH, AO, AR, A99, V, VE, and V1-V30.

The Base Flood Elevation is the water surface elevation of the base flood; it is published in the Flood Insurance Study and printed on FIRM panels for numbered A and V zones.

Unnumbered Zone A carries no BFE on the map; the community must obtain, use, and reasonably infer the best available data to set an elevation standard.

The regulatory floodway is the channel plus adjacent land that must stay free of encroachment so the base flood elevation does not rise more than 1.0 foot.

Zone AO denotes sheet flow 1 to 3 feet deep and uses a depth number rather than an elevation; Zone AH denotes ponding 1 to 3 feet deep; Zone A99 is protected by a federal flood protection system under construction.

Shaded Zone X is the 0.2 percent annual chance (500-year) flood; unshaded Zone X is minimal hazard; Zone D is undetermined risk with no analysis.

Map-change tools: CLOMR is a conditional review before construction, LOMR revises the FIRM, LOMR-F is based on fill placement, and LOMA removes a structure or parcel from the SFHA without physically revising the map.

Ordinance amendments triggered by a new FIRM must be adopted within six months of the map's effective date or the community faces suspension from the NFIP.

Freeboard is the height of the lowest floor above the BFE; FEMA recommends at least 1 foot and many state and local codes require 1 to 3 feet.

A permit application must show the elevation of the lowest floor, including basement, and in V zones the elevation of the lowest horizontal structural member.

An as-built elevation certificate must be submitted and verified before a certificate of occupancy or final approval is issued.

A basement is any area with its floor below grade on all sides; it is the lowest floor for regulatory purposes and must be at or above the BFE in A zones.

Enclosures below the lowest floor are limited to parking, building access, and storage, may not be used for human habitation, and require compliant flood openings.

The space below the lowest horizontal structural member in a V zone must be free of obstructions, with open lattice or breakaway walls that fail under flood loads without damaging the elevated structure.

Dry floodproofing is allowed only for nonresidential structures, requires certification by a registered engineer or architect, and must be paired with a flood warning and emergency operations plan; it is not permitted in V zones.

Manufactured homes must be elevated and anchored so the lowest floor is at or above the BFE in A zones; in V zones they must be on pilings or columns with the lowest horizontal member at or above the BFE.

Materials used below the BFE must be flood-damage resistant per FEMA Technical Bulletin 2 classes, and Class 5 materials are unacceptable; electrical and mechanical equipment should be elevated to or above the BFE.

Critical facilities such as hospitals and emergency operations centers should be located outside the SFHA or protected to the base flood plus freeboard with continued access.

NFIP policies are issued by FEMA directly or through Write Your Own insurance companies, while the federal government retains the flood risk.

The standard waiting period is 30 days after purchase, with exceptions for lender-required coverage at loan closing and certain map revision situations.

Maximum coverage in the Regular Program is $250,000 building and $100,000 contents for residential, and $500,000 building and $500,000 contents for nonresidential.

Contents coverage is purchased separately from building coverage, and basement contents and most below-grade improvements are excluded.

Increased Cost of Compliance provides up to $30,000 of building coverage to bring a substantially or repetitively damaged structure into compliance, and requires a flood insurance claim.

A proof of loss is generally due within 60 days of the loss unless FEMA extends the deadline; an insurance payment does not relieve the property owner of ordinance compliance.

Risk Rating 2.0 replaced zone-based subsidized pricing, setting premiums from flood frequency, distance to water, elevation, and cost to rebuild.

Community Rating System classes run from 1 (best) to 10; each class better than 10 earns a 5 percent premium discount, so Class 1 equals 45 percent and Class 9 equals 5 percent.

CRS credit activities are organized in series 300 public information, 400 mapping and regulations, 500 flood damage reduction, and 600 flood preparedness.

No Adverse Impact holds that a community's actions and permitted development must not increase flood elevations, velocities, erosion, or damage to other properties; the core standard is do no harm.

Any encroachment in a regulatory floodway requires a no-rise certification or a CLOMR/LOMR showing the surcharge stays within the allowed limit.

The mitigation hierarchy for flood-prone buildings is acquisition and demolition, relocation, elevation, and finally dry floodproofing, which applies only to nonresidential structures.

FEMA mitigation grants such as HMGP, BRIC, FMA, and PDM require a benefit-cost ratio of 1.0 or greater to be cost-effective.

HMGP provides up to 15 percent of total disaster assistance, increased to 20 percent for states with FEMA-approved enhanced mitigation plans.

A FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan, updated at least every five years, is required for most non-emergency mitigation grant funding.

A repetitive loss property has two or more paid flood claims of $1,000 or more in any ten-year period; a severe repetitive loss property has four or more claims of $5,000 or more, or two or more claims totaling more than $20,000.

Substantial damage determinations made after a disaster trigger the 50 percent rule, and Increased Cost of Compliance funds can be combined with mitigation grants to elevate or acquire the building.

Higher regulatory standards such as freeboard, cumulative substantial improvement tracking, and larger no-rise requirements reduce risk and can generate Community Rating System credit.