NYC Appeals Period Ending for Regulatory Flood Insurance Studies and Flood Insurance Rate Maps

NEW YORK, June 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The regulatory appeals and comments period for FEMA's Flood Insurance Study update for New York City comes to an end on June 28, 2015. FEMA received comments from the City today, June 26. FEMA Region II looks forward to reviewing information provided by the City.

The 90 day appeal and comment period, which allows the City and its residents to present alternative methodologies and provide scientific and technical information to propose revisions to the preliminary maps from FEMA, is an important part of the flood hazard map update process.  Applicable data provided by New York City helps to ensure that the most precise maps are ultimately adopted for flood plain management and become the basis for flood insurance requirements and rates. 

FEMA engaged New York City directly to begin the updating process in 2010 when data development for the updated FIS and FIRMs began. Since then, FEMA has provided over $1.3 million in grants assistance to the City through a formal Cooperating Technical Partnership agreement with the Mayor's Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NYC ORR).

Preliminary and revised preliminary FIS reports and FIRMs were issued in December 2013 and January 2015, respectively. A Consultation Coordination Officers meeting was held to review the information with City officials in January 2015, and dozens of public outreach meetings have been held regarding flood hazard mapping and flood insurance over the last several months.

Working closely with New York City, FEMA addressed numerous technical aspects of coastal storm surge analysis, and published several publically available technical reports focusing on data development, probability analysis, model development, and model parameters for the coastal storm surge study. These reports are available at www.Region2coastal.com.  

Next steps include a review and resolution of all appeals and comments. New information will be incorporated into the flood maps where appropriate. The final stage of the process includes a 6 month period, during which the City adopts the new FIRM. At the end of the 6 month adoption period, the FIRM becomes the basis for local floodplain development and flood insurance rates.

FEMA Region II appreciates and commends New York City officials for undertaking this initiative to ensure residents and property owners have the most precise depiction of flood hazard information. FEMA also recognizes the valuable role played by Regional, State, and local stakeholders, including Members of Congress, who have been instrumental in widely circulating this much needed flood hazard mapping update in the City and across the region.

In the coming weeks FEMA will work closely with City officials to understand the information they have developed during this appeals and comments period, and incorporate it as appropriate into the final New York City products.

Media Contact:

Andrew Martin
Mitigation Outreach, FEMA Region II
+1-212-680-8690
[email protected]

SOURCE FEMA Region II