42 U.S.C. § 4121 : US Code - Section 4121: Definitions

Search 42 U.S.C. § 4121 : US Code - Section 4121: Definitions

(a) As used in this chapter -
(1) the term "flood" shall have such meaning as may be
prescribed in regulations of the Director, and may include
inundation from rising waters or from the overflow of streams,
rivers, or other bodies of water, or from tidal surges,
abnormally high tidal water, tidal waves, tsunamis, hurricanes,
or other severe storms or deluge;
(2) the terms "United States" (when used in a geographic sense)
and "State" includes the several States, the District of
Columbia, the territories and possessions, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;
(3) the terms "Insurance company", "other insurer" and
"insurance agent or broker" include any organizations and persons
authorized to engage in the insurance business under the laws of
any State;
(4) the term "insurance adjustment organization" includes any
organizations and persons engaged in the business of adjusting
loss claims arising under insurance policies issued by any
insurance company or other insurer;
(5) the term "person" includes any individual or group of
individuals, corporation, partnership, association, or any other
organized group of persons, including State and local governments
and agencies thereof;
(6) the term "Director" means the Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency;
(7) the term "repetitive loss structure" means a structure
covered by a contract for flood insurance that -
(A) has incurred flood-related damage on 2 occasions, in
which the cost of repair, on the average, equaled or exceeded
25 percent of the value of the structure at the time of each
such flood event; and
(B) at the time of the second incidence of flood-related
damage, the contract for flood insurance contains increased
cost of compliance coverage.
(8) the term "Federal agency lender" means a Federal agency
that makes direct loans secured by improved real estate or a
mobile home, to the extent such agency acts in such capacity;
(9) the term "Federal entity for lending regulation" means the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency,
the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union
Administration, and the Farm Credit Administration, and with
respect to a particular regulated lending institution means the
entity primarily responsible for the supervision of the
institution;
(10) the term "improved real estate" means real estate upon
which a building is located;
(11) the term "lender" means a regulated lending institution or
Federal agency lender;
(12) the term "natural and beneficial floodplain functions"
means -
(A) the functions associated with the natural or relatively
undisturbed floodplain that (i) moderate flooding, retain flood
waters, reduce erosion and sedimentation, and mitigate the
effect of waves and storm surge from storms, and (ii) reduce
flood related damage; and
(B) ancillary beneficial functions, including maintenance of
water quality and recharge of ground water, that reduce flood
related damage;
(13) the term "regulated lending institution" means any bank,
savings and loan association, credit union, farm credit bank,
Federal land bank association, production credit association, or
similar institution subject to the supervision of a Federal
entity for lending regulation;
(14) the term "servicer" means the person responsible for
receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower
pursuant to the terms of a loan, including amounts for taxes,
insurance premiums, and other charges with respect to the
property securing the loan, and making the payments of principal
and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts
received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the
terms of the loan; and
(15) the term "substantially damaged structure" means a
structure covered by a contract for flood insurance that has
incurred damage for which the cost of repair exceeds an amount
specified in any regulation promulgated by the Director, or by a
community ordinance, whichever is lower.
(b) The term "flood" shall also include inundation from mudslides
which are proximately caused by accumulations of water on or under
the ground; and all of the provisions of this chapter shall apply
with respect to such mud-slides in the same manner and to the same
extent as with respect to floods described in subsection (a)(1) of
this section, subject to and in accordance with such regulations,
modifying the provisions of this chapter (including the provisions
relating to land management and use) to the extent necessary to
insure that they can be effectively so applied, as the Director may
prescribe to achieve (with respect to such mudslides) the purposes
of this chapter and the objectives of the program.
(c) The term "flood" shall also include the collapse or
subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water
as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents
of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels, and all of the
provisions of this chapter shall apply with respect to such
collapse or subsidence in the same manner and to the same extent as
with respect to floods described in subsection (a)(1) of this
section, subject to and in accordance with such regulations,
modifying the provisions of this chapter (including the provisions
relating to land management and use) to the extent necessary to
insure that they can be effectively so applied, as the Director may
prescribe to achieve (with respect to such collapse or subsidence)
the purposes of this chapter and the objectives of the program.