42 U.S.C. § 4101 : US Code - Section 4101: Identification of flood-prone areas

Search 42 U.S.C. § 4101 : US Code - Section 4101: Identification of flood-prone areas

(a) Publication of information; establishment of flood-risk zones;
estimates of flood-caused loss
The Director is authorized to consult with, receive information
from, and enter into any agreements or other arrangements with the
Secretaries of the Army, the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce,
the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the heads of other Federal
departments or agencies, on a reimbursement basis, or with the head
of any State or local agency, or enter into contracts with any
persons or private firms, in order that he may -
(1) identify and publish information with respect to all flood
plain areas, including coastal areas located in the United
States, which has special flood hazards, within five years
following August 1, 1968, and
(2) establish or update flood-risk zone data in all such areas,
and make estimates with respect to the rates of probable flood
caused loss for the various flood risk zones for each of these
areas until the date specified in section 4026 of this title.
(b) Accelerated identification of flood-risk zones; authority of
Director: grants, technical assistance, transactions, and
payments
The Director is directed to accelerate the identification of risk
zones within flood-prone and mudslide-prone areas, as provided by
subsection (a)(2) of this section, in order to make known the
degree of hazard within each such zone at the earliest possible
date. To accomplish this objective, the Director is authorized,
without regard to subsections (a) and (b) of section 3324 of title
31 and section 5 of title 41, to make grants, provide technical
assistance, and enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, or
other transactions, on such terms as he may deem appropriate, or
consent to modifications thereof, and to make advance or progress
payments in connection therewith.
(c) Priority in allocation of manpower and other available
resources for identification and mapping of flood hazard areas
and flood-risk zones
The Secretary of Defense (through the Army Corps of Engineers),
the Secretary of the Interior (through the United States Geological
Survey), the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Soil
Conservation Service), the Secretary of Commerce (through the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the head of the
Tennessee Valley Authority, and the heads of all other Federal
agencies engaged in the identification or delineation of flood-risk
zones within the several States shall, in consultation with the
Director, give the highest practicable priority in the allocation
of available manpower and other available resources to the
identification and mapping of flood hazard areas and flood-risk
zones, in order to assist the Director to meet the deadline
established by this section.
(d) Plan for bringing communities with flood-risk zones into full
program status
The Director shall, not later than September 30, 1984, submit to
the Congress a plan for bringing all communities containing flood-
risk zones into full program status by September 30, 1987.
(e) Review of flood maps
Once during each 5-year period (the 1st such period beginning on
September 23, 1994) or more often as the Director determines
necessary, the Director shall assess the need to revise and update
all floodplain areas and flood risk zones identified, delineated,
or established under this section, based on an analysis of all
natural hazards affecting flood risks.
(f) Updating flood maps
The Director shall revise and update any floodplain areas and
flood-risk zones -
(1) upon the determination of the Director, according to the
assessment under subsection (e) of this section, that revision
and updating are necessary for the areas and zones; or
(2) upon the request from any State or local government stating
that specific floodplain areas or flood-risk zones in the State
or locality need revision or updating, if sufficient technical
data justifying the request is submitted and the unit of
government making the request agrees to provide funds in an
amount determined by the Director, but which may not exceed 50
percent of the cost of carrying out the requested revision or
update.
(g) Availability of flood maps
To promote compliance with the requirements of this chapter, the
Director shall make flood insurance rate maps and related
information available free of charge to the Federal entities for
lending regulation, Federal agency lenders, State agencies directly
responsible for coordinating the national flood insurance program,
and appropriate representatives of communities participating in the
national flood insurance program, and at a reasonable cost to all
other persons. Any receipts resulting from this subsection shall be
deposited in the National Flood Insurance Fund, pursuant to section
4017(b)(6) of this title.
(h) Notification of flood map changes
The Director shall cause notice to be published in the Federal
Register (or shall provide notice by another comparable method) of
any change to flood insurance map panels and any change to flood
insurance map panels issued in the form of a letter of map
amendment or a letter of map revision. Such notice shall be
published or otherwise provided not later than 30 days after the
map change or revision becomes effective. Notice by any method
other than publication in the Federal Register shall include all
pertinent information, provide for regular and frequent
distribution, and be at least as accessible to map users as notice
in the Federal Register. All notices under this subsection shall
include information on how to obtain copies of the changes or
revisions.
(i) Compendia of flood map changes
Every 6 months, the Director shall publish separately in their
entirety within a compendium, all changes and revisions to flood
insurance map panels and all letters of map amendment and letters
of map revision for which notice was published in the Federal
Register or otherwise provided during the preceding 6 months. The
Director shall make such compendia available, free of charge, to
Federal entities for lending regulation, Federal agency lenders,
and States and communities participating in the national flood
insurance program pursuant to section 4017 of this title and at
cost to all other parties. Any receipts resulting from this
subsection shall be deposited in the National Flood Insurance Fund,
pursuant to section 4017(b)(6) of this title.
(j) Provision of information
In the implementation of revisions to and updates of flood
insurance rate maps, the Director shall share information, to the
extent appropriate, with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans
and Atmosphere and representatives from State coastal zone
management programs.