New Bill Puts Chronically Flooded Communities on Notice: Develop Mitigation Plans or Potentially Lose Flood Insurance Access

A new piece of legislation, the "Repeatedly Flooded Communities Preparation Act," is looking to change how towns with persistent flooding issues tackle these watery woes. It amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to require certain communities to get serious about flood mitigation. This means identifying risky areas, creating detailed plans to lessen flood impacts, and actually putting those plans into action, all while keeping the public and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the loop. The core idea? To push these communities towards proactive, long-term solutions for areas that get swamped time and again.

Ground Zero: Which Towns Are on the Hook?

So, who exactly is a "covered community" under this bill? We're not talking about every town that's ever seen a puddle. The bill targets communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that meet specific criteria. This includes towns with at least 50 homes or buildings that have each filed two or more flood insurance claims over $1,000 within any 10-year period. Also on the list are communities with at least five "severe repetitive loss structures" (think properties that flood a lot and haven't had mitigation work done), or those with public or non-profit facilities that have received federal disaster aid for multiple floods in the past decade. Essentially, if a community has areas that are chronic flood magnets, this bill is talking to them.

The Mandate: Flood Plans on Display

If a community falls into that "covered" category, they've got a new to-do list. According to Section 2 of the bill, they'll need to:

• Pinpoint exactly where these repeatedly flooded areas are.
• Work with FEMA to assess the ongoing risks – what kind of flooding, how bad, how often.
• Develop a community-specific plan to mitigate these risks. This isn't a one-size-fits-all deal; plans need to be tailored.
• Submit these plans to FEMA and keep them updated.
• Crucially, implement these plans. A plan on a shelf doesn't stop water.
• Make these plans and regular progress reports publicly available, following the guidelines of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) to ensure transparency while safeguarding personal information. So, residents could get a clear look at what's being proposed and achieved.

Good news for towns already working on this stuff: the bill allows these new requirements to be rolled into existing hazard mitigation plans, like those developed under Section 322 of the Stafford Act.

FEMA's Playbook: Help, Hurdles, and Hard Calls

FEMA gets a significant role here, acting as both a partner and an enforcer. On the support side, FEMA is directed to provide communities with data to help them develop their plans. Plus, a community's compliance and efforts to fix its flood problems will be something FEMA considers when awarding financial assistance – a potential carrot for proactive towns.

But there's also a stick. The bill authorizes FEMA to sanction communities that don't comply or fail to make "sufficient progress" in reducing flood risks. These sanctions aren't taken lightly and must follow specific procedures (outlined in 5 U.S.C. 553, the Administrative Procedure Act). Sanctions could include being put on probation or even suspended from the National Flood Insurance Program, as per 44 CFR 59.24. This is a big one: losing NFIP eligibility could make it extremely difficult for property owners to get or afford flood insurance, which is often a requirement for mortgages. Before bringing down the hammer, though, FEMA must give notice of the violation, suggest corrective actions, and – importantly – consider the community's resources, the scale of its flood-prone areas, and any other factors making mitigation tough. This acknowledges that not all towns have the same capacity to tackle these expensive problems.

The Long Game: Rules, Reports, and Real Change?

This isn't an overnight fix. FEMA has one year from the bill's enactment to issue all the necessary regulations to implement these changes. These regulations will fill in the details, including, presumably, what constitutes "sufficient progress." Then, starting six years after the bill becomes law, and every two years after that, FEMA will need to report to Congress on how these covered communities are doing with their mitigation plans. This sets up a long-term cycle of planning, action, and oversight, aiming to turn the tide on repetitive flooding, one community at a time. The question will be how effectively these plans translate into drier homes and safer communities, especially for those with limited local budgets.