ASFPM CFM flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Post-FIRM construction

A structure built after the effective date of a community's initial Flood Insurance Rate Map, or after December 31, 1974, whichever is later, and therefore rated actuarially rather than subsidized.

Substantial improvement threshold

Rehabilitation, addition, or reconstruction costing 50 percent or more of a structure's pre-improvement market value, excluding land, which then requires full compliance with new-construction standards.

Substantial damage

Damage from any cause where the cost to restore the structure to its pre-damage condition equals or exceeds 50 percent of its pre-damage market value, excluding land.

Emergency Program limits

Maximum NFIP coverage of $35,000 building and $10,000 contents for residential structures, and $100,000 building and $100,000 contents for nonresidential structures in Emergency Program communities.

Regular Program maximum coverage

Maximum NFIP coverage of $250,000 building and $100,000 contents for residential structures, and $500,000 building and $500,000 contents for nonresidential structures in Regular Program communities.

Section 60.3 ordinance minimums

The federal floodplain management standards a community must adopt and enforce to remain eligible for NFIP flood insurance; stricter state or local standards are permitted.

Special Flood Hazard Area

Land covered by the base flood, the 1 percent annual chance flood, shown on Flood Insurance Rate Maps as zones A, AE, AO, AH, A99, AR, V, and VE.

Base Flood Elevation

The water surface elevation of the 1 percent annual chance flood, published in the Flood Insurance Study and used as the regulatory elevation standard in numbered A and V zones.

Regulatory floodway

The channel and adjacent land that must remain free of encroachment because any obstruction would raise base flood elevations by more than one foot.

Zone AO

A shallow flooding area subject to sheet flow one to three feet deep, where the base flood elevation is expressed as a depth number rather than an elevation in feet.

Shaded Zone X

The area of moderate flood hazard subject to the 0.2 percent annual chance, or 500-year, flood, lying outside the Special Flood Hazard Area.

Letter of Map Amendment

A FEMA determination that an existing structure or parcel is not in the Special Flood Hazard Area because of ground elevation; no fill is placed and the map is not physically revised.

Lowest floor

The lowest enclosed area of a building, including basement, but excluding enclosures used only for parking, storage, or access that have compliant flood openings.

Flood opening requirement

At least two openings on different walls, total net area of one square inch per square foot of enclosed area, with the bottom of each opening within one foot of grade.

V zone lowest horizontal member

In coastal high hazard areas, the lowest horizontal structural member of the lowest floor must be at or above the base flood elevation and free of obstruction.

Dry floodproofing certification

Nonresidential structures may be made watertight to the base flood elevation if a registered engineer or architect certifies the design and a flood warning plan exists.

Elevation Certificate

A FEMA form recording as-built elevations of the lowest floor and mechanical equipment, used to verify ordinance compliance and to determine flood insurance premiums.

Breakaway wall

A wall below the base flood elevation in a V zone designed to collapse under flood loads without damaging the elevated structure; the enclosed space is limited to parking, storage, and access.

Flood-damage-resistant materials

Materials installed below the base flood elevation that resist water damage, classified under FEMA Technical Bulletin 2, where Class 5 materials are considered unacceptable.

Thirty-day waiting period

Flood insurance coverage generally takes effect 30 days after purchase, with exceptions such as lender-required coverage at loan closing and certain flood map revisions.

Increased Cost of Compliance

Up to $30,000 of building coverage that helps pay to bring a substantially damaged or repetitively flooded structure into compliance with the local floodplain ordinance.

Risk Rating 2.0

FEMA's premium methodology that prices each policy using flood frequency, distance to water, elevation, and replacement cost instead of map zone and subsidy categories.

Community Rating System class

A community's score from 1 to 10; each class better than 10 earns a 5 percent premium discount, so Class 1 gives 45 percent and Class 10 gives none.

Write Your Own insurer

A private insurance company that sells and services NFIP policies under its own name while FEMA retains the underlying flood risk and sets the policy terms.

Proof of Loss

A sworn statement from the policyholder documenting the amount claimed, generally due within 60 days of the flood loss unless FEMA extends the deadline.

No Adverse Impact

The ASFPM principle that a community's actions and permitted development must not increase flood heights, velocities, erosion, or damages to other property owners or communities.

Benefit-cost ratio

The ratio of a mitigation project's avoided future flood damages to its total cost; FEMA grants generally require a ratio of 1.0 or greater to be cost-effective.

Repetitive loss property

An insured property that has received two or more separate flood insurance claim payments of $1,000 or more each within any ten-year period.

Severe repetitive loss property

A property with four or more flood claims of $5,000 or more, or two or more claims cumulatively exceeding $20,000, triggering mandatory mitigation offers from FEMA.

Hazard mitigation plan

A FEMA-approved state, local, or tribal plan identifying risks and mitigation actions, updated at least every five years as a condition of most mitigation grant funding.

HMGP funding formula

The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides up to 15 percent of total disaster assistance, rising to 20 percent for states with a FEMA-approved enhanced mitigation plan.

No-rise certification

An engineering certification that a proposed encroachment in a regulatory floodway will not increase base flood elevations, required before the development permit may be issued.