Through this new self-service digital purchase option, FEMA is reducing barriers and making flood insurance more accessible to people nationwide at a time when the number of NFIP policies is in decline. 

To use the new online tool, go to Floodsmart.gov and answer a few basic questions about the building you wish to insure. Once you receive your quote, you will have the option to purchase a policy online or through an insurance agent. If you choose to purchase through a local or national carrier, you can share your quote details with your insurance agent, or Floodsmart.gov will provide the contact information of three licensed state insurance agents. 

In November 2024, FEMA released a Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) online quoting tool, which provided the ability to receive an insurance quote but the option to purchase the policy online was not yet available.

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program provides about $1.2 trillion in coverage for approximately 4.4 million policyholders nationwide. 

To learn more about flood insurance, get a quote and purchase a policy, visit Floodsmart.gov/policy-quote.  FEMA also released a partner toolkit that provides social media messaging, graphics, and other resources that can be used to encourage your community to purchase flood insurance.

The post FEMA Launches New Option to Buy Flood Insurance Online first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Following its release, the FEMA memo received mixed reactions.  One emergency management professional commented on LinkedIn: “If every state issued a similar memo, the wording would differ from one to the next, but the core mission areas would largely stay the same from state to state. Most of us, however, would differ from FEMA’s new definition. Each state defines emergency management through its own laws, authorities, and needs. That responsibility belongs to the states, not the federal government.”

The memo raises at least as many questions as it answers, including:

1) Does the memo signal potential changes to FEMA’s programs and responsibilities?
Could the memo lay the groundwork for further actions, such as an updated strategic plan that seeks to offload functions or programs that don’t meet this new definition of emergency management? For example, could it affect FEMA’s responsibility for coordinating the National Flood Insurance Program?  It should be noted that a significant number of the comments submitted in writing and expressed orally in meetings of the FEMA Review Council appointed by President Trump focused on improving and expanding hazard mitigation opportunities and long-term recovery efforts. 

2)  How does the narrow definition of emergency management square with existing legal authorities? 
The definition appears to ignore several statutory responsibilities assigned to FEMA by Congress, including hazard mitigation provisions of the Stafford Act and coordination of the National Flood Insurance Program as required under the National Flood Insurance Act.

Will FEMA follow the law?  Specialized professionals employed by FEMA, like actuaries, are needed to help run the insurance side of the NFIP.  Could the memo affect their ability to maintain professional certifications or meet continuing education requirements in light of the new narrow view of FEMA’s current and future role?

3)  Who should define the emergency management profession?
Why is FEMA defining the professional framework for emergency management while the administration emphasizes that states and communities, rather than FEMA, should take the lead in emergency management?

As an organization that administers the professional certification for floodplain managers, ASFPM follows best practices in administering the Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) program. This includes conducting job task analyses to better understand how the profession is evolving over time by asking…the professionals in the field.  It is up to the profession to define the profession, not a single agency at any level.

Until a clearer picture emerges of the impacts of this and other policy directives that are currently being issued by FEMA leadership, ASFPM will closely monitor how the agency is ultimately implementing the array of programs it is responsible for to better identify the short- and long-term impacts.  We will continue to provide both FEMA leaders and Congress feedback from the boots-on-the-ground floodplain management professionals.   

Your partner in loss reduction,

The post FEMA’s New Definition of Emergency Management Raises Questions first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The new toolkit builds on established tenets of effective floodplain management: communities need the authority, resources, knowledge, and support to manage flood risk successfully. The 10 guiding principles outlined in ASFPM’s Effective State Floodplain Management Programs report, published in 2003, remain relevant today. However, that report focuses on the state role and doesn’t reflect the technological advances and programmatic changes of the past two-plus decades. Local floodplain administrators need practical guidance tailored to their specific responsibilities and the challenges they face.

What we’re hearing from the field

After holding two symposia (one with state government officials and one with local floodplain administrators) and reviewing feedback from multiple ASFPM Flash Feedback surveys, several themes have emerged.  

During the “Essentials of Local Floodplain Management Symposium” in April 2026, participants agreed that a successful local floodplain management program is one that has:

• Strong communication between and/or integration of floodplain management with other program areas (e.g., engineering, planning, building codes, emergency management, public works, maintenance crews, GIS);
• Strong relationships across sectors and between key departments and parties;
• Consistency in staffing, administrative procedures, and federal/state support;
• Supportive local leadership; and
• Knowledgeable staff with capacity to perform duties as necessary and easy access to subject matter experts, as needed (e.g., engineers).

Conversely, communication gaps, limited staff capacity and a lack of support from elected officials makes the work more difficult.

During the June Symposium on “ASFPM Support of State Capacity Needs,” a portion of the conversation focused on the concept of an Essentials of Local Floodplain Management Toolkit. It was discussed that any such toolkit should be designed around the actual work of a local floodplain administrator, and be “a practical operating system,” not just another reference manual. Participants stressed that the toolkit should focus on the basic, core duties of a local floodplain administrator, including where to start. It should also include a compilation of resources, with state-specific information if/when possible.

Across all feedback engagement points, participants also identified the resources that would be most helpful for local floodplain administrators. Guidance and how-to documents topped the list, followed by examples and case studies, training, one-pagers, templates, and checklists. 

As for topics, the top three topics mentioned in the resource requests were regulations, risk assessment and mapping, and post-disaster emergency management. These were followed closely by basic floodplain management concepts and permitting.

These findings reflect the realities of the job. In the Advice for New Floodplain Managers Flash Feedback survey distributed Sept. 2026, the top floodplain management activities local floodplain administrators mentioned most frequently were:

• Permitting;
• Answering questions from the general public;
• Handling elevation certificates; and 
• Floodplain education and outreach. 

Meanwhile, the number one question posed by the general public is, “Is my property/am I/is the project in the floodplain? A flood zone? Flood hazard area?” Followed closely by, “Do I need flood insurance?” “What flood zone am I in?” and “How long does it take to obtain a floodplain development permit?” 

Next steps

The Essentials of Local Floodplain Management Toolkit is still in development. Over the coming year, ASFPM will continue organizing and prioritizing the ideas and resources gathered through this outreach to help shape a practical, useful toolkit grounded in the real-world needs of local floodplain managers and designed to help them carry out their essential work.

The post A Sneak Peek into ASFPM’s Toolkit for Local Floodplain Administrators first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The post Welcome New Members – September 2026 first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Like many local governments, Charlotte County carries property and flood insurance on many of its assets and relies heavily on FEMA Public Assistance for eligible uninsured losses. But both approaches present challenges. Traditional insurance has become increasingly expensive, while FEMA reimbursement can be complex and take years to complete. At the same time, immediately following a disaster, our residents expect parks, facilities, and other community assets to be restored as quickly as possible.

An additional challenge involves assets that may not be cost-effective to insure individually or may not qualify for FEMA reimbursement. Boat docks, fishing piers, park shade structures, pavilions, and playground equipment may not be critical infrastructure, but they do cost money to replace and are important to a community’s quality of life. After losing many of these types of assets during recent storms, Charlotte County began looking for another way to address this funding gap.

Enter Parametric Insurance

Unlike traditional insurance, parametric insurance does not require documentation of actual damage to a particular asset. Instead, payment is triggered when a predefined, measurable parameter—such as wind speed or storm surge—reaches an agreed threshold within a defined geographic area.

Charlotte County currently carries $25 million in combined wind and storm-surge parametric coverage at an annual premium of approximately $1.4 million. Wind speeds are measured at 20 locations distributed across the county based on the location of County assets, while storm surge is measured within four geographic zones. If the specified threshold is reached at an applicable location, the policy pays according to a predetermined schedule. Figure 1 shows the payment thresholds and Figures 2 and 3 show the wind speed locations and the storm surge zones.

This structure provides an important distinction from traditional coverage: there is no need to establish that a specific insured asset sustained a particular dollar amount of damage before funds become available.

Testing the Concept Against Recent Storms

Because Charlotte County has not experienced a hurricane since purchasing parametric coverage, we evaluated how the policy would have performed during three recent storms.

Applying the current insurance model retrospectively produced striking results: Hurricane Ian would have generated approximately $22 million in wind-triggered payments; Hurricane Helene approximately $1 million from storm surge; and Hurricane Milton approximately $16.25 million from combined wind and surge triggers.

These figures do not represent actual payments received by the County; they simply illustrate how the current policy structure would have responded had it been in place for those events.

Another Tool in the Resilience Toolbox

Parametric insurance is not a replacement for traditional property or flood insurance, nor does it eliminate the importance of FEMA assistance. It does, however, offer another tool for managing post-disaster financial risk.

For floodplain managers, emergency managers, and local government administrators, that distinction matters. Community resilience is not only about reducing physical vulnerability before an event; it is also about having the financial capacity to recover afterward.

For Charlotte County, parametric insurance provides an opportunity to create a more flexible source of post-disaster funding, particularly for the community assets that can otherwise fall between the cracks of traditional insurance and federal disaster assistance. Like any insurance product, it requires weighing premiums against risk. But in an era of increasing insurance costs and repeated coastal disasters, innovative risk-financing strategies deserve a place alongside mitigation, adaptation, and recovery planning.

Claire Jubb, AICP, CFM is the Assistant County Administrator in Charlotte County, Florida. She also serves of co-chair of ASFPM’s Floodplain Regulations Committee.

The post Parametric Insurance: A New Tool for Closing the Post-Disaster Funding Gap first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

“I’ve always loved nature and am super passionate about water, so it was a perfect combination of the two! I want to have a career focusing on protecting people and the environment from flooding and find more stormwater management techniques,” she said.  

Now a junior civil engineering major at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., Snowden was awarded the ASFPM Foundation’s Future Leaders Scholarship (FLS) for 2026-2028. 

The two-year FLS awards up to $20,000 annually to two students concurrently who are entering the final two years of a four- or five-year undergraduate program and preparing for a career in floodplain management. 

More Than Financial Support

For Snowden, the award brought immediate relief. “I was so excited and relieved! I literally could not stop smiling,” she said. “Paying for college was one of the biggest stresses for me last year. I was going to have to start taking more private loans to be able to continue going to Rose-Hulman or transfer to a cheaper school.”

Beyond the financial support, Snowden said she is particularly excited about the networking and mentoring opportunities the scholarship provides. She sees the connections as an opportunity to gain professional support and insight beyond the classroom. 

“I am excited to continue meeting and learning from industry professionals. I also get a unique opportunity of growing my connections with professionals in different stages of their careers from different companies and backgrounds. This is not common for college students to have access to a network like this.”

Help Launch the Next Future Leader

The ASFPM Foundation raises funds for the Future Leaders Scholarship through Giving Tuesday, the Global Day of Philanthropy following Thanksgiving. In 2026, Giving Tuesday falls on December 1. New FLS recipients are announced at the ASFPM Annual Conference. 

Applications for the 2027 Future Leaders Scholarship are due February 1. For more information about the scholarship and how to support future floodplain management professionals, visit www.asfpmfoundation.org.

The post A Passion for Water. A Future Fighting Floods. first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The mandatory purchase requirement is the main driver of coverage, but its reach is limited. An estimated 43 percent of properties inside Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) carried insurance, compared with 2 percent outside them. That gap matters because FEMA maps generally don’t capture all flood risks, particularly heavy rainfall. GAO’s analysis of First Street data indicates about 13 million high-risk properties sit outside SFHAs.

Consumer misperceptions compound the problem. Property owners may underestimate their risk, overestimate federal disaster assistance, or assume homeowners insurance covers flood damage, when most policies exclude it.

GAO identified four actions that could help increase NFIP and private flood insurance coverage, each requiring statutory authority from Congress:

• Incorporating all sources of flood risk into purchase requirement determinations could help ensure that more at-risk properties have coverage.
• Making property-level flood risk information publicly available could increase awareness of flood risk.
• Requiring lenders to provide flood insurance quotes for federally backed mortgages could better signal the need for coverage.
• Increasing NFIP coverage limits could allow property owners to obtain coverage better aligned with potential flood losses.

GAO also reiterated earlier recommendations that any affordability assistance be means-based and reflected in the federal budget, and that barriers to private flood insurance be removed.

The findings reinforce a familiar challenge: communities with significant flood risk outside mapped SFHAs may see residents carrying no coverage and little awareness of their exposure. Local outreach and risk communication may remain essential while Congress weighs these recommendations.

The full report is available at gao.gov (GAO-27-108012).

The post Most At-Risk Properties Remain Uninsured, GAO Finds, Urging Congress to Act first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

FIM produces estimates of land area covered in water based on model forecast river flows and current conditions that predict where flooding impacts may occur in the following days. It’s a tool for forecasters, emergency managers, and the public that alerts users to the latest river and stream flooding conditions. 

FIM puts river and stream flooding on the map at a neighborhood scale. It depicts flooding potential along 3.3 million river miles throughout the continental U.S., U.S. territories and Hawaii. For the most recent expansion, FIM’s new coverage areas include: the southeastern U.S. coast and Florida; Great Lakes region; New England; the Rocky Mountains; the Dakotas; and western Nebraska. 

“Inundation maps are a critical tool for assessing the impacts of flooding,” said NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs, PhD. “NOAA prioritized expanding FIM to ensure that nearly every American can access detailed information beyond the expected river crest height.”

The maps are already being used by National Weather Service offices to help emergency managers and communities prepare for flooding. In spring 2025, for example, the NWS office in Nashville used FIM to help a senior assisted living facility in Macon County safely evacuate residents hours before floodwaters reached the facility. In April 2025, the NWS office in Little Rock shared FIM with the city of Hardy, Arkansas, which used the maps to guide door-to-door evacuations. The city reported a nearly 100% evacuation success rate. 

“FIM has been a game changer when briefing emergency managers, first responders, and communities facing flood risk,” said National Weather Service Director Ken Graham. “It helps focus their response on the extent of flooding by using a strong and precise visualization tool.”

About NOAA’s Flood Inundation Mapping 

FIM services launched in 2023, initially covering about 10% of the U.S. population, and expanded to 60% in 2025. The latest expansion does not yet include northern and western Alaska, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa. 

Expanded FIM maps are publicly available on the National Water Prediction Service website, in several GIS applications available in multiple file types.  

Four versions of FIM are available in near-real time for the Lower 48 states and parts of south-central Alaska:

• National Water Model hourly analysis of current conditions
• National Water Model five-day inundation forecast
• NWS River Forecast Center (RFC) five-day inundation forecast
• Static “categorical” FIM (CatFIM) for select NWS River Forecast Points

FIM services for Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands include:

• National Water Model hourly analysis of current conditions
• National Water Model 48-hour inundation forecast
• Static “categorical” FIM (CatFIM) for select points at gauged locations

NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction (OWP) is a division of the National Weather Service. In partnership with NWS national, regional and local offices, the OWP coordinates, integrates and supports consistent water prediction activities from global to local levels.  

The post NOAA’s flood mapping tool now covers nearly 100% of U.S. population first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Whether you’ve developed a new approach, led a successful project, or studied emerging trends, this is your opportunity to shape practice and inspire action at the world’s largest flood conference.

We’re accepting abstracts for both 30-minute concurrent sessions and 2-4 hour in-depth workshops. The conference theme is: “The Confluence of Policy, Perspectives & Professionals.” Topics of interest include: 

• Arid Regions
• Dams & Levees
• Extreme Weather Trends
• Mapping
• Mitigation
• Modeling
• Natural and Beneficial Functions
• NFIP/Floodplain Management
• Post-Disaster Recovery
• Professional Development
• Risk Communication
• Stormwater Management
• Technology, Tools, Data & AI
• Warning Systems
• Watershed Management
• Whole Community Approach

Ready to share your expertise? Please visit our conference webpage, where you’ll find all the details on the submission process, selection criteria, and presenter expectations. 

Submissions are due by Nov. 2 and will only be accepted using the online form. 

The post The 2027 Call for Abstracts is Open! first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Fiscal Year 2026 funding allocations range from $637,536 for California to $69,278 for Wyoming. Learn more about CAP-SSSE. 

The post FEMA Announces FY 2026 CAP-SSSE Funding first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.