The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is the state's National Flood Insurance Program coordinating agency. These areas have a one percent or greater chance of experiencing a flood in any year and are shown on Flood Insurance Rate Maps provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Fortunately, in New York, 1,466 communities participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.Įach participating community has a local law for flood damage prevention that contains specific standards for any development in federally mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas. However, flood insurance and many kinds of federal disaster assistance are not available in communities that do not participate in the program. Community participation in the National Flood Insurance Program is voluntary. The National Flood Insurance Program offers flood insurance to homeowners, renters and business owners, provided their communities use the program's strategies for reducing flood risk, including adopting and enforcing floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood damage. The program provides flood insurance, while at the same time encouraging the sensible management and use of floodplains to reduce flood damage. The program provides an alternative to disaster assistance and reduces the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and their contents caused by floods. The National Flood Insurance Program is a federal program created in 1968 to provide flood insurance to people who live in areas with the greatest risk of flooding, called Special Flood Hazard Areas. Coupled with changing weather patterns, this construction can make floods more severe and increase everyone's chance of being flooded. But more and more buildings, roads, and parking lots are being built where forests and meadows used to be, which decreases the land's natural ability to store and absorb water. Natural floodplains add to our quality of life by providing open space, habitat for wildlife, fertile land for agriculture, and opportunities for fishing, hiking and biking.įloodplains can be viewed as a type of natural infrastructure that can provide a safety zone between people and the damaging waters of a flood. When left in a natural state, floodplain systems store and dissipate floods without adverse impacts on humans, buildings, roads and other infrastructure.

What is a floodplain?įloodplains are low-lying lands next to rivers and streams. Yet people continue to settle and build in floodplains, increasing the risk of property damage and loss of life. Throughout history, floods have claimed uncounted human lives and devastated property, even destroying cities. Floods can also be caused by storm surges and waves that inundate areas along tidal or Great Lakes coastlines. Floodplain Construction Requirements in NYS When Floods Occurįloods occur when runoff from rain or snowmelt exceeds the capacity of rivers, stream channels or lakes and overflows onto adjacent land.

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