Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have made what they describe as “midpoint adjustments” in the process of modernizing the flood maps used by the National Flood Insurance Program.

The modernization of the flood maps, which had been produced, printed, and distributed with traditional paper mapmaking methods, had its origins in the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-325). Funding for Flood Map Modernization was first appropriated in fiscal year (FY) 2003, with additional funding provided in FY2004, FY2005, and FY2006.

As the Flood Map Modernization initiative reached the halfway point, FEMA performed a mid-program evaluation that considered input from Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General (IG), and other stakeholders. Progress towards initiative goals has been assessed, and FEMA said it is making changes in its implementation of the initiative “that will result in better-targeted and more accurate flood data, while also producing digital flood maps for a significant portion of the nation.” The results of that evaluation are presented in a report.

Flood Map Modernization Mid-Course Adjustment (FEMA report)

October 31, 2006