This page provides community officials with levee outreach resources that they can use to make informed decisions and to share information with the public. Materials are provided for various categories of levees, and the information is categorized by various stakeholder groups that might benefit from gaining more knowledge about levees from their community officials.
The Levee Outreach Toolkit
Know Your Risk, Know Your Role, Take Action Today!
Overview
As the status of a levee system is changed or comes under review, community officials must be able to communicate effectively with residents and business owners, the insurance community, lenders and real estate agents, and the media and other community leaders. FEMA has developed the Levee Outreach Toolkit, available through the webpages listed below, to support these outreach efforts. The toolkit includes flexible template materials that local government officials and agencies can adapt and use to address flood risks behind levees and the flood insurance implications of levee status changes in their communities.
The Toolkit covers many—but not all—of the communication needs for communities whose flood risk zones and Special Flood Hazard Areas are being remapped or revised. Users are encouraged to adapt the materials as needed and use the fact sheet templates to create any additional pieces they may need. Additional levee outreach materials that can be used by real estate, lending, and insurance professionals are available through the Real Estate, Lending and Insurance Professionals: Levee Mapping Status page.
Toolkit Structure
The toolkit is separated into the following sections to address three core levee status designations and outreach:
- Situation #1: Levees are De-accredited
- Situation #2: Levees are Newly Accredited
- Situation #3: Levees are Provisionally Accredited
- Ideas for Effective Outreach
Click on the section that most closely identifies the situation in your community. On each Levee Situation page listed above, you will see a brief explanation of the situation, the flood insurance implications, and the importance of reaching out to residents and stakeholder groups. You can then choose to view and download outreach materials created specifically for communicating with, and through, different audience groups.
Materials and Formats
All of the template materials on this site were created in Microsoft Word to include key messages and information, while allowing them to be customized by end users. Red brackets clearly mark the areas to insert community-specific information. Directives inside the brackets suggest the appropriate type of information to include. Because these are Microsoft Word template documents, they are not designed for high-resolution printing, but they can be printed in color. FEMA resource materials are provided as PDF documents to protect their integrity. They can be printed, but not changed.
For More Information
For additional levee resources, visit:
- FloodSmart- The official source for FEMA Flood maps
- Ready- FEMA's emergency preparedness campaign
- National Community on Levee Safety- Helps facilitate a shared responsibility for levee safety by all levels of government and the public, and provides recommendations for a National Levee Safety Program
- USACE Levee Safety Program- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Levee Safety Program webpage
If you still have questions or need assistance, contact a Map Specialist in the FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX) through the following methods:
- Call (1-877) FEMA MAP (1-877-336-2627), Monday through Friday, 8:00 am through 6:30 pm (Eastern Time)
- Email the FMIX
- Chat with a Map Specialist, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (Eastern Time)
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