50th Anniversary of the National Flood Insurance Program

National Flood Insurance Program. The home in the center is elevated above the flood water and the homes to the left and right are not.

August 1, 2018, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. The Act was motivated by the devastating loss of life and property by Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Since then, the program has aimed to reduce the impact of flooding on private and public structures by providing affordable insurance to property owners, renters and businesses, as well as by encouraging communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations.

Where it rains, it can flood. The NFIP protects Americans against the financial losses from floods. For the safety of our communities, together we can ensure that the NFIP is viable for the next 50 years.

Insurance

Quick Facts:

The NFIP's policies can be purchased in more than 22,000 communities across the country that are choosing to protect their residents from flood by managing their floodplains.
The NFIP assists and regulates local governments lowering the built environment’s exposure to flood, which saves the Nation more than $1.6 billion/year in avoided flood losses.
The NFIP paid over $64 billion in claims during the last 50 years, averaging $1.28 billion per year.
We know from experience individuals and businesses recover quicker and more fully with flood insurance than those without. Following Hurricane Harvey, the average Individual Assistance grant from FEMA was $4,000, while the average NFIP claim payment in the same county was $110,000 on average.

For more information, visit www.FloodSmart.gov.

Mitigation

Quick Facts:

• More than 1,485 communities have taken a more assertive approach to keep their residents safe by joining the NFIP’s Community Rating System, which provides discounts for some flood insurance policies.

• FEMA has dedicated nearly $4 billion in flood grants--buying out or elevating nearly 53,000 properties.

• Since NFIP Flood Mitigation Grants were first provided, in 1996, the NFIP has helped mitigate more than 6,300 flood prone properties, investing $1.1 billion. For every one dollar invested in disaster mitigation today, six dollars can be saved.

Flood Mitigation Success Stories:

This page identifies Flood Mitigation Success stories by hazard and the area of impact.

This graphic identifies Flood Mitigation Success Stories by hazard and the area of impact.

New York

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Texas

Risk Management

Quick Facts:

Since 1970, over 1.1 million riverine and coastal miles have been mapped to identify flood hazards, assess flood risks, and provide accurate flood hazard data, which has created more safe and resilient communities.

Success Stories:

Risk Map Success Stories

Building Science:

In support of FEMA and the NFIP, the Building Science Branch communicates FEMA’s latest findings in disaster risk reduction related to building safety and makes recommendations by engaging in the voluntary consensus-based minimum codes and standards development process. Through this process the Branch has helped ensure minimum model building code requirements meet or exceed floodplain management regulations, which has helped reduce the impact of flooding on private and public structures across the US. Looking back over the course of 50 years, there are a number of significant milestones and achievements that directly support and benefit the NFIP.

FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map with Limit of Moderate wave action represented by black triangles, delineating the Coastal A Zone]

For more information visit https://www.fema.gov/building-science, including the flood building code resources (https://www.fema.gov/building-code-resources) which includes documents that provide information concerning the flood resistant provisions of the I-Codes, ASCE 24, and NFIP requirements.