CEO/Floodplain Managers Corner
Joseph Young
Maine Floodplain Management Program
Local Officials Guide for Coastal Construction
This document was developed to assist building officials in
understanding the connection between National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
guidelines, the International Building Code, and the International Residential
Code. Additionally, flood and wind provisions of both ASCE 7-05 and ASCE 24-05
are presented and discussed. The guide also explores building performance and
real-life success and failures following recent storm events and recommends
design and construction "best practices" where appropriate.
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Floodplain Mapping Update
By Joseph Young
Mapping Coordinator
Aroostook County
The USGS Maine Water Science Center is making steady progress in completing the Flood insurance Study and mapping for Fort Kent. Topographic work is 90% complete, field reconnaissance, field surveys and retrieval of background data are 100 % complete and hydrology is 30% complete. The target for completion of preliminary maps is late summer or early fall of this year.
Kennebec County
The adoption process has been delayed. During preliminary review several issues regarding proper notification to communities were discovered that needed to be addressed. Base flood elevations previously published in communities were integrated into neighboring community maps.
Following is a list of affected communities and the water bodies involved.
Winthrop Berry Pond
Fayette Echo Lake
Fayette Lovejoy Pond
Vassalboro Kennebec River
Rome Little Pond
Rome North Pond
Windsor Long Pond
Oakland Messalonskee Stream
Unity TWP Sebasticook River
Windsor Three Cornered Pond
Windsor Three Mile Pond
Once proper notification procedure has been completed the appeals period will be restarted, with a projected effective date for new maps anticipated to be in mid summer of 2011
Cumberland and York
Counties
FEMA and its Contractors are continuing their
review of preliminary floodplain maps. As soon as the review is completed
the appeals process will be restarted with an anticipated effective
date for new maps being in mid summer of 2011.
Androscoggin County
Work in the county is progressing according to schedule at this point. LiDAR data acquisition and processing has been completed and is being reviewed. Field surveys have been started, hydrological analysis is in the beginning stage as well as re-delineation of some floodplains.
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Coastal LiDAR Proposal Funded
Michael Smith,
State GIS Manager,
Maine Office of GIS,
Maine Office of Information Technology
The
Maine Office of GIS (MEGIS) is pleased to announce that our proposal for USGS
ARRA lidar collection has been selected for full funding, with the data
collection to take place this Fall. Although we had
received tentative notification of our selection in January, the
confirmation finally came today. This project will collect new lidar
and collate existing lidar into a single regional dataset stretching from
Manhattan to Cobscook Bay. The combined area is 13,500 square miles,
covers 10,500 linear miles of coastline, and is home to roughly 20M people and
7.5M households. This is the first phase in what is a larger New
England-wide goal of high-resolution terrain mapping.
This
project, led by Maine, included the cooperation of GIS contacts in each of the
partner states - New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and
New York, with matching funding from a number of federal and state agencies,
and non-profit organizations. Over 50 supporting letters were also
provided, including two state governors (Connecticut and Maine), government agencies at
all levels, tribes, non-profits, and commercial interests. Financial
partners in Maine included Acadia National Park, Maine DEP, Maine
GeoLibrary, Maine State Planning Office, USDA, The Nature Conservancy, and the
Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
The
total project value is $2.7M, with $1.4M coming from ARRA funds, $385K from
cash match, and $915K from in-kind contributions. Maine's portion totals
$823K in value, with $487K from ARRA funds, $156K from cash match, and $180K
from in-kind contributions. Over the next few weeks MEGIS and the other
partners will begin working with USGS to flesh out the details of the
cooperative agreement and contracts for Fall collection of lidar data.
The
complete proposal, and a map of the Maine portion, can be found at http://mapserver.maine.gov/lidar/usgs_arra_proposal.pdf
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Flood Insurance Questions  |
Flood Insurance Program Temporarily Suspended!
Sue Baker, State Coordinator
National Flood Insurance Program
Congress
adjourned in March until April 12, 2010 without extending the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP). As a result, the NFIP's authority
to renew and write new policies ended on Sunday, March 28 at midnight. Since
that time, insurance agents have not been able to provide new or renewal flood
insurance policies, which are required by lenders.
A
similar
impasse occurred at the end of February and the NFIP was closed for several
days until Congress renewed it on March 2. It is anticipated that Congress will
reinstate the NFIP and other affected programs retroactively when it returns on
April 12.
Financial Services Housing Subcommittee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and
Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) are drafting new bipartisan legislation to renew
the NFIP Program.
The
NFIP expiration causes headaches for insurance agents and their customers as
well as delays for some consumers waiting to close on the sale of a property
within a flood hazard area. While no new policies can be issued during a lapse
in NFIP authorization, consumers with current flood insurance policies remain
covered. Claims payments are not affected!
More
information regarding the issues caused by this lapse in authority can be found
at the following website links.
Guidance for
lenders from the Office of Thrift Supervision, Dept. of the Treasury:
http://files.ots.treas.gov/25338.pdf
FAQs for
insurance agents:
http://www.nfipiservice.com/stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/W-10029.pdf
http://www.nfipiservice.com/stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/W-10028.pdf
http://bsa.nfipstat.com/wyobull/w-09068.pdf
http://www.nfipiservice.com/stakeholder/pdf/bulletin/W-10031.pdf
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4th
Annual RIFMA Conference
By Michelle Burnett
NFIP Coordinator
Rhode Island
Registration is now open for the 4th Annual RIFMA
Conference and Membership Meeting!
When: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Radisson Airport Hotel, Post Road (Rte 1), Warwick, RI
02886
(directly
across from T. F. Green Airport)
In addition to information on coastal and riverine
flooding issues and initiatives, the conference will include presentations on
inundation and storm surge modeling in the region, ocean observations and data,
the Rhode Island
"StormSmart" program, the Community Rating System for attaining NFIP discounts
for your community, Community Liability issues, and much more. Certified
Floodplain Managers can earn 7 Continuing Education Credits for the conference.
To register for
this year's conference, please click on the link below.
2010 RIFMA Conference Registration Form
Associated with the conference will be an all-day Certified Floodplain Manager
prep/refresher course on Monday, April 26, and the CFM exam on Wednesday, April 28.
Both of these events will be held at East Providence
City Hall, 145 Taunton Avenue in East Providence RI.
For general questions regarding the conference and CFM procedure, contact Wayne
Barnes at (401) 435-7537 or by e-mail at wbarnes@cityofeastprov.com. Please note that the CFM exam
will be administered from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. This scheduling will enable exam takers to also attend the
Coastal-A Zone Workshop in Warwick
from 9:00 am to 12 noon on the same day. Driving time between the two locations
is about 15 minutes.
The preliminary Conference Agenda is available here.
For more information please visit the RIFMA website at: http://ri.floods.org/
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Quote of the Day
"Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
Einstein
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Newsletter Funding
This newsletter is funded with a grant provided by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
EMB-2007-CA-0874
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