The Alabama Office of Water Resources (OWR), in partnership with FEMA, conducted a Flood Risk Products Meeting for stakeholders within the Coastal Watersheds of Coastal Alabama on Wednesday, May 20th, 2015. The workshop updated local stakeholders on the Alabama Coastal Mapping Project and the Flood Risk Products which communities can utilize to identify, assess, and reduce their flood risk.
At the workshop, the facilitators provided the following projected timeline for the flood mapping project:
The Flood Risk Products presented included a Flood Risk Map (FRM), Flood Risk Report (FRR) and Flood Risk Database (FRD). These products are non- regulatory resources that supplement the flood hazard information produced by the regulatory Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), Flood Insurance Study (FIS) and FIRM database products. They are intended to help community leaders assess the flood risks for their community. These Flood Risk Products will become available following the release of the flood maps in late 2016 – late 2017.
In regards to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Coastal Alabama Partnership and the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance (CSFI) will be conducting a roundtable discussion around the 2017 reauthorization of the NFIP on July 17th. This roundtable is intended to facilitate a discussion about what provisions need to be retained during reauthorization of the NFIP and seek input from stakeholders about what additional provisions need to be included in the legislation. CSFI is holding similar events around the country with stakeholders in order to ensure the coalition is prepared for the coming reauthorization of the NFIP in 2017.
For further information on the flood risk products or workshop, please contact Leslie Durham at 334-242-5506 or Leslie.Durham@adeca.alabama.gov. Ms. Durham is the Floodplain Management Branch Chief at OWR. For further information on the July 17th Flood Insurance meeting, please contact Kristen O’Keefe at 251-436-8822 or Kristen@CoastalAlabama.org.
