Coastal Hazard Bulletin

Issue No. 11

The purpose of the Coastal Hazard Mailing List is to provide up-to-date coastal flood hazard information pertinent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Flood Insurance Program. Subscribers will receive new mailings on a monthly basis.

Guidelines and Specifications for Wave Elevation Determination and V Zone Mapping

Coastal communities generally have unique flood hazards because of storm surges and wave action from large open water bodies. Defining Coastal High Hazard Areas (V Zones) requires determination of wave elevations associated with the 100-year flood. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has compiled the Guidelines and Specifications for Wave Elevation Determination and V Zone Mapping to specify technical policies and procedures to be employed in the preparation of coastal Flood Insurance Studies (FISs) and restudies. These Guidelines provide unified instructions on the application of the methodologies used to determine the coastal flooding elevation hazards set forth in the FIS, and on the delineation of the flood elevations and hazards on the Flood Insurance Rate Map. These Guidelines are not applicable to studies on Great Lakes coasts because different analysis procedures and computer models are applied there. Guidance for the use of the RUNUP, Version 2.0 and WHAFIS, Version 3.0, programs are provided in sections "5.0 Wave Runup, Setup, and Overtopping," and "6.0 Analysis of Overland Wave Dimensions," respectively.

Draft Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners

FEMA has recently prepared Draft Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners, w hich are available to interested parties for review and comment. These Draft Guidelines define the technical requirements, coordination and documentation activities, and product specifications for flood hazard maps and related National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) products. These Draft Guidelines also represent a compilation of the requirements documented in previous FEMA guidelines and specifications documents and other FEMA procedure memorandums and guidance documents.

The Draft Guidelines and Specifications for Flood Hazard Mapping Partners is available at: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/dl_cgs.shtm. Coastal Portions of this document are discussed in Appendix D: Guidance for Coastal Flooding Analyses and Mapping.

National Flood Insurance Program Regulations

The NFIP regulations (44CFR) are available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_06/44cfrv1_06.html.

Sections of the 44CFR which address coastal concerns include:

More detailed discussion of coastal concerns in 44CFR will be provided in a future bulletin.

MT-2 Forms

The MT-2 Forms are a group of application/certification forms which were designed to assist requesters (community officials, individual property owners, and others) in gathering the information FEMA needs to determine whether property (parcel[s] of land or structure[s]) is likely to be flooded during the flood event that has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (base flood). The MT-2 Forms shall be used to request conditional Letters of Map Revision (cLOMRs), LOMRs, and Physical Map Revisons (PMRs). The MT-2 Forms are available at: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/dl_mt-2.shtm.

The following forms shall be used for most coastal map revision requests:

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Last Modified: Thursday, 21-Jun-2007 11:57:20 EDT