What is Floodplain Management?

Floodplain management is the operation of a community program of corrective and preventative measures for reducing flood damage. These measures take a variety of forms and generally include zoning, subdivision, or building requirements, and special-purpose floodplain ordinances.

Prior to the creation of the NFIP, floodplain management as a practice was not well established - only a few States and several hundred communities actually regulated floodplain development. For many communities, the NFIP was the community's initial exposure to land use planning and community regulations.

A community's agreement to adopt and enforce floodplain management ordinances, particularly with respect to new construction is an important element in making flood insurance available to home and businesses owners. Currently over 20,000 communities voluntarily adopt and enforce local floodplain management ordinances that provide flood loss reduction building standards for new and existing development. To provide State and local officials program guidance on implementing the NFIP, see our "NFIP Policy Keyword Index".

In an effort to encourage communities to establish sound floodplain management programs that go beyond the NFIP minimum requirements, the Community Rating System was created.

The Mitigation Division at FEMA is the organization responsible for working with communities to encourage them to adopt and enforce ordinances that meet or exceed the minimum floodplain management requirements of National Flood Insurance Program