Number: RL33264
Title: FEMA's Flood Hazard Map Modernization Initiative
Authors: Wayne A. Morrissey, Knowledge Services Group 
Abstract: In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This program called for the federal government to help cover costs of flood damages, creating a structure that assigned the financial responsibility to individuals and entities particularly at risk for flooding. Congress amended NFIP in 1973, requiring the Flood Insurance Administration in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to produce countywide "Flood Insurance Rate Maps," or FIRMs, to set federal flood insurance premiums based on flood risk. In 1979, the newly created Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became responsible for producing FIRMs. By 1994, FEMA had developed a prototype FIRM as a digital file, or DFIRM, that could be displayed on a computer. The agency announced that for flood data management and map production efficiency it intended to expand its DFIRM inventory. In 1997, when DFIRM production was becoming operational, FEMA's director delivered a strategic plan for a "Flood Map Modernization Initiative (FMMI)" to Congress, whereby all new flood maps would be produced as DFIRMs and 100,000 FIRMs would be converted to digital file format. In 1999, FEMA reported that FMMI would be completed by 2007. FEMA's goal now is 2008.
Pages: 39
Date: February 3, 2006