Several years ago, many of us were stunned to learn how much funding would run through FEMA’s BRIC program (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities). Traditionally, significant money only ran through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program. Big funds from FEMA tended to show up only after a disaster. But BRIC was going to change
If you don’t recall, NAFSMA is the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, and I am attending NAFSMA’s 46th annual conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Today I had the pleasure of addressing the attendees as part of the legal panel and I chose to use my time to talk about the lawsuit that was
It’s “what?” you might ask. NAFSMA, the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, was formed 46 years ago as a place where public agencies in the flood and stormwater space could come together, learn from each other, and partner with the Federal government to make life better and safer. I have had the privilege of
I had the opportunity this week to attend a National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA) Mentoring Session on the Future [of] Flood Risk Data. This session, offered by NAFSMA in partnership with FEMA and including other interested parties, educated folks on several FEMA missions and discussed how those missions should handle the
Our April 26, 2023 article noted that the Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines (PR&G) are about money. The Federal government has a lot of money. Even in an era of budget cutting, it still has a lot of money, and it chooses to spend that money on a whole bunch of different things. One category of things it spends
Members of the Rangers led the First Continental Army during America’s Revolutionary War, and their “No man left behind” motto became a central fixture of U.S. military protocol. The slogan communicated the need to make sure that EVERYONE was taken care of. But do we have the same policy when it comes to levees? At the Federal level,
Back in 2019, we wrote a post about the surprising connection between the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). That post concluded with the following:
It looks like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be forced to address ESA compliance on a state-by-state basis, unless it can develop a
[It would seem silly to post this article without first acknowledging an elephant in the room: We haven’t posted in 23 months. Why, you might ask? Is it because there is nothing going on in the flood world? No. Is it because we have retired to tropical islands? No. Is it because we got really
Indulge me for a moment by imagining that you’re preparing for the trip of a lifetime. As you dutifully click through your packing checklist, you also take the time to learn a few key foreign language words and phrases for the countries that you’ll be visiting. Experience has proven that knowing simple greetings and pleasantries
On April 1, 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released an official announcement (Release Number HQ-21-079) and Memorandum for Write Your Own (WYO) Principal Coordinators and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Direct Serving Agent (W-21003) outlining plans for implementing its new NFIP rating system known as Risk Rating 2.0 described by FEMA as