Reduce flooding damage and costs through the National Flood Insurance Programs and the NFIP’s Community Rating System.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program (note: this requires a MNDNR-approved Floodplain Ordinance); identify residents/businesses experiencing repeated flooding and develop resources for homeowners about purchasing flood insurance. Report inventories/maps of sanitary sewer systems and gray & green stormwater infrastructure under BPA 29.5. |
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Enroll in the FEMA Community Rating System (CRS) at a class rating of 9 through 7; do not allow fill (or no net-filling) within FEMA and locally defined floodplain areas; update models of riverine/lake and/or localized flooding throughout the community. Report assessment and improvements of city-owned buildings and site vulnerabilities under BPA 29.5. |
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Be recognized in the CRS at a class rating of 6 through 1; implement a city buy-out program for property located in flood zones. |
Resources
- NOTE: this action was previously combined with BPA 19.4 - see action reports there for NFIP related actions.
- A DNR approved floodplain ordinance, resolution of intent to join the National Flood Insurance Program and completed NFIP application form are required to enroll in the NFIP. For assistance with these steps, contact the MNDNR Floodplain Program staff.
- See DNR model floodplain ordinances.
- The National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) was implemented in 1990 as a voluntary program for recognizing and encouraging community floodplain management activities exceeding the NFIP’s minimum standards. Any community that is in full compliance with the NFIP’s minimum floodplain management requirements may apply to join CRS. Communities are rated in Classes 9 to 1, and flood insurance premium rates for individuals in the community are increasingly discounted (in 5% increments) as communities move from Class 9 to Class 1, to reward community actions that meet the three goals of the CRS, which are:
- (1) reduce flood damage to insurable property
- (2) strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP; and
- (3) encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.
- See FEMA’s CRS resources.
- The CRS has been a good program for communities that have many existing structures in FEMA-mapped "high risk floodplains," which have a 1% annual chance of flooding areas and are in the "100-year floodplains” With FEMA’s new Risk Rating 2.0 for flood insurance policies starting on October 1, 2021, all policies receive the CRS discount, so the program will now be much more attractive to communities whose landowners have policies outside of the high risk floodplains.
- The Metropolitan Council Localized Flood Map Screening Tool provides regional climate vulnerability assessments for community planning.
- Flood Factor makes it easy to look up a property or community's past flood impacts, current risks, and future projections based on peer-reviewed research from the world's leading flood modelers.
- ReduceFloodRisk.org helps property owners (and also renters, associations, governments, etc.) understand the actions they can take today to lower their risk of flooding tomorrow.
- Plan ahead, during, and after a flooding event. See the DNR’s Flood Preparation, Response and Recovery site and the Minnesota Post-Disaster Substantial Damage Playbook for Local Officials, a useful resource to help local officials know their responsibilities post-disaster. Find additional resilience planning resources under BP 29.
Order Number
8