Starting December 15, 2011, for 45 days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is providing the public an opportunity to comment on a number of new methodologies being considered to assess and map flood risks associated with non-accredited levees—one that does not provide protection from the base flood per the criteria of 44CFR65.10. This includes de-accredited levees as well.

As part of the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA is responsible for analyzing and identifying flood hazards associated with the one-percent-annual-chance flood event or base flood event. The flood hazard associated with this event is shown on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs).

Prior to March 2011, FEMA had received inquiries from stakeholders expressing their concerns about FEMA’s current “without levee” approach. The U.S. Congress echoed this concern and members of both the House and Senate asked FEMA to consider discontinuing the use of the approach.

Given the significant technological advances in data collection and flood hazard modeling in recent years, FEMA acknowledged that creating an approach with many options—that can be applied to a variety of situations—would better meet the needs of the American public, providing more precise results. In March 2011, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate committed to replace the singular “without levee” approach with one that is more sound, credible, and cost-effective.

The objective of this effort is to create an approach that will be flexible, collaborative, and feasible. FEMA will also set out to determine the best way to replace the current analysis with a new approach to map non-accredited levees.