Retrofitting flood-prone residential structures helps achieve an important objective of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), to break the cycle of repetitive flood damage. Many buildings have been flooded, repaired, and flooded repeatedly. In some floodplains, this cycle occurs every few years. FEMA estimates that buildings that meet or exceed the NFIP minimum floodplain management requirements incur, on average, 65 percent less flood damage than buildings that predate adoption of local floodplain management requirements. In general, buildings that were constructed before the adoption of local floodplain management requirements may not have been constructed with features that reduce flood damage. Owners of these buildings may be interested in the retrofitting measures and best practices described in this publication.

The focus is the retrofitting of one- to four-family residences subject to flooding situations without wave action. The publication presents various retrofitting techniques that provide both active and passive efforts and employ both dry and wet floodproofing measures. These include elevation of the structure in place, relocation of the structure, construction of barriers, dry floodproofing (sealants, closures, sump pumps, and backflow valves), and wet floodproofing (flood damage-resistant materials and protection of utilities and contents).

Existing data and current standards have been used to inform this publication. Detailed sections on evaluation, planning, and retrofitting design measures, along with updated case studies of completed retrofitting projects, are included. The publication was used to update content for the FQS training course related to Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Structures.

Download FEMA P-529

The post Updated Edition of Engineering Principles and Practices for Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Structures (FEMA P-259) Available first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Throughout the week, attendees connected with colleagues from across the country, explored innovative ideas and practical solutions, and took part in conversations that are helping shape the future of our profession. From thought-provoking plenary sessions and technical presentations to networking events, awards celebrations, and 70’s-style anniversary festivities, the conference showcased the people, partnerships, and shared commitment that continue to advance flood risk reduction nationwide.

Relive some of the highlights of the 2026 ASFPM Conference with this brief video that captures just some of the experience of this milestone event. View on YouTube

Access Your On-Demand Recordings

Registered attendees now have on-demand access to the 2026 ASFPM Annual Conference. This conference collection contains all of the concurrent sessions and plenary presentations, as well as the awards ceremony. So, if you missed a presentation or simply want to watch it again, you’ll be able to do so.

On-demand access will remain available through January 2027. You will be required to log in to our Learning Management System to view the virtual conference. Your username and password will be the one used to register for the conference. If you have never logged into the LMS, you may need to click the Forgot Password link and have it reset.

Access sessions recordings here.

If you missed our 50^th Annual Conference in Milwaukee, you can purchase the on-demand version and still receive the Continuing Education Credits. The cost is $499 for members and $699 for non-members. Learn more.

Save the Date for 2027

As we close out another conference, we’re grateful to all the exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers, presenters, and attendees who made this year’s event so memorable. We hope to see you all again next year when we head to Pittsburgh, PA, May 23-27, 2027! The conference theme is The Confluence of Policy, Perspectives & Professionals.

Want to be part of the program? The Call for Abstracts opens this fall. Watch your inbox for details!

The post Relive the 2026 ASFPM Conference. Session Recordings and Photo Highlight Reel Now Available. first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Last month, Congressman Pat Harrigan of North Carolina introduced the Sustainable and Flood Resilient Engineering for Rural Areas (SAFE Rural) Act. The bipartisan legislation, co-led by Congressman Eric Sorensen of Illinois, would establish a dedicated rural flood resilience fund within FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The fund would provide formula-based funding to eligible rural communities, Tribal governments and U.S. territories rather than requiring them to compete with larger communities for federal funding.

The legislation also would streamline applications for smaller projects, expand technical assistance and help communities invest in flood mitigation before disasters occur, reducing long-term recovery costs and strengthening critical infrastructure. 

“Communities across western North Carolina know better than anyone that rebuilding after a flood is always harder and more expensive than preparing beforehand,” said Congressman Harrigan. “The problem is that too many rural communities never get the chance to prepare because they don’t have the staff or resources to navigate Washington’s grant process. The SAFE Rural Act changes that by making it easier for small towns to access the funding they need to strengthen critical infrastructure before the next disaster hits. That’s a smarter use of taxpayer dollars, and it’s how we build more resilient communities for the long haul.” 

Some key elements of the SAFE Rural Act include:

• Expands the overall amount of funding for pre-disaster mitigation. SAFE Rural does not take funds away from the BRIC program; rather, it expands available funds by requiring that 2% of the Disaster Relief Fund be dedicated to the program.
• Removes the Administration’s discretion to implement the program. The legislation clearly states that “The President shall provide technical and financial assistance…” Both the BRIC program and HMGP are discretionary, meaning the President may or may not choose to implement them.  
• Specifically identifies nature-based solutions as eligible uses of assistance.  Nature-based solutions have been part of the flood mitigation toolbox for some time and this would ensure they remain available options when appropriate
• Authorizes significantly more technical assistance for communities through the Community Assistance (CAP-MIT) program. Modeled after the CAP-SSSE program in the NFIP, CAP-MIT delivers community technical assistance via capacity building at the state level to help communities that would otherwise not be able to develop that capability on their own. This is a superior model to FEMA’s Direct Technical Assistance program, would ensure more continuity of assistance, and is consistent with the President’s concept of states and communities taking more responsibility.   

ASFPM, NAFSMA Voice Support for SAFE Rural Act

“The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) is proud to support the SAFE Rural Act in addressing one of the shortcomings of existing pre-disaster hazard mitigation programs—equal opportunity for rural areas and Tribal nations,” said Chad Berginnis, Executive Director of ASFPM. “By using proven approaches to provide technical assistance and funding to these communities and avoiding known pitfalls in existing programs, the SAFE Rural Act allows funding to be flexibly used for locally identified and prioritized flood hazard mitigation efforts.”

The bill also received support from the National Association of Flood & Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA), which urged Congress to “pass it without delay.”

“Rural communities, Tribal lands, and U.S. territories often face the greatest flood risks and the least capacity to access federal mitigation funding,” said Sunny Simpkins, Executive Director of NAFSMA. “The SAFE Rural Act fixes this by establishing a dedicated, formula-based funding stream within the BRIC program, capitalized by a 2 percent set-aside from the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund. It streamlines applications for small projects, waives cost-share requirements for economically distressed communities, and builds state and local capacity through the Community Assistance Program. Every dollar invested in pre-disaster resilience saves many more in post-disaster recovery.”

The SAFE Rural Act has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for consideration.

“We’ve long known that the benefits of hazard mitigation actions far exceed their costs,” said Berginnis. “By directing a small part of the Disaster Relief Fund toward hazard mitigation, the SAFE Rural Act compels responsible stewardship of these taxpayer dollars by enabling long-term community flood resilience.”

The post SAFE Rural Act Aims to Close the Gap in Pre-Disaster Flood Mitigation Opportunities for Rural and Tribal Communities first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Getting the Certified Floodplain Manager program up and running was nothing short of a labor of love. It took years, tons of research, thousands of volunteer hours and lots of collaboration and comparisons before the first exam was even administered at the 1999 ASFPM conference in Portland, Oregon.

In 1992, Jim Owen, chair of ASFPM’s Professional Development Committee at the time, explored a certification program, and Larry Larson, now ASFPM’s director emeritus, thought the concept had merit, so he formed a Certification Task Force to look into the possibility in 1995. 

“During the same time frame, the Certified Emergency Manager program was being developed with strong support from FEMA,” said John Ivey with the PDC for our Certification Board of Regents. The information gathered from Bonnie Butler, who was with FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, helped to avoid some of the “pitfalls” identified during development of the CEM program, such as required education and experience to take the certification exam and avoidance of narrative or subjective exam questions. 

Also during this time period, the New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas chapters also saw the importance of a certification program and developed state CFM programs.

Ivey said the group believed then as they do today, that the creation of a national CFM program would improve floodplain management nationwide. “A CFM program would provide the avenue needed to educate community floodplain managers and permit officials in floodplain management. When community floodplain officials are educated (certified) and go on to make sound floodplain management decisions, we should see a major reduction in loss of life and damage from flood events.”

In 1999 after the initial exam was given, this nation had its first 66 CFMs through ASFPM’s program. To date, a total of 13,878 CFMs have been certified nationwide and it’s projected that number could rise to 39,712 by 2020.

Mark Riebau, CBOR’s president, said he sees multiple benefits for floodplain management professionals who get their CFM.

He said people with a CFM can improve their chances of finding employment, citing a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued this month that indicated people who held a certification had a significantly lower rate of unemployment—2.7% vs 6.1%—and had earnings of approximately 1/3 greater than those who were not.  

“Becoming a CFM is the first step in demonstrating a person is qualified to work as a floodplain manager,” Riebau said. “The steps to become a CFM only demonstrate the minimum knowledge of the principles of floodplain management, but experience and the requirement to earn Continuing Education Credits to maintain the CFM credential improves the CFM’s knowledge and qualifications.”

We all know that every community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program is legally obligated to adopt a floodplain development ordinance to guide new development away from the floodplain, or if unavoidable, be elevated above the base flood elevation. Additionally, every community that participates in the NFIP must designate a floodplain administrator to implement the provisions of the floodplain development ordinance. 

Riebau said, “There is no better way for a community to assure itself that whoever they designate as their floodplain administrator is qualified than to require the person to be a CFM. There is no better way for participating communities to be confident they are retaining engineering firms to review and improve their flood maps than to hire firms that have CFMs on staff. Planners, engineers, land surveyors and other professionals who are CFMs are far more qualified to provide services within communities that have identified flood hazards than those that are not.”

Excerpted from the 2016 article, How the CFM Program Came to Be.  Learn more about the history of the CFM program. 

The post Looking Back: How the CFM Program Began first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

During Back to the Future: Floodplain Management 50 Years Past and 50 Years Hence, two ASFPM Pioneer Award recipients who were instrumental in the association’s formative years, ASFPM Co-founder French Wetmore and CBOR President Mark Riebau, provide a fascinating look back at the origins of the profession, sharing firsthand stories about the creation of ASFPM, the evolution of the National Flood Insurance Program, the development of flood mapping, and the policies and partnerships that have shaped modern floodplain management. Their historical perspective offers valuable context for understanding how today’s practices came to be and the challenges that remain.

Building on that foundation, Annie Mack Vest, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, explores how states and communities can strengthen local leadership and resilience in an evolving policy landscape, while Lori Peek, Director of the Natural Hazards Center, reminds attendees of the importance of a people-first approach to flood risk reduction— one that integrates technical expertise with an understanding of the social, natural, built and economic environments that shape people’s flood risk.

Whether you’re new to the profession or have decades of experience, this conversation offers rare institutional knowledge, practical lessons, and forward-looking ideas from leaders who have helped define—and continue to shape—the field. It’s a valuable resource for anyone committed to reducing flood risk and building more resilient communities.

The post Back to the Future: Floodplain Management 50 Years Past and 50 Years Hence first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

If you’re familiar with NOAA’s Digital Coast, you know that it’s a resource that’s all about providing actionable information to coastal communities large and small, while demonstrating a collaborative approach that aligns with the needs and technical capacities of the communities served by NOAA.

You might also know that ASFPM is a founding member of NOAA’s Digital Coast Partnership, which, in addition to NOAA is made up of eight non-governmental membership organizations including the American Planning Association (APA), Coastal States Organization (CSO), National Association of Counties (NACo), National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA), National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC), The Nature Conservancy, and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

The partner organizations have extensive experience individually and together supporting communities, large and small, as they work to apply policy, data, tools, and training toward local natural disaster resilience through vulnerability assessments, adaptation and hazard mitigation planning efforts, and other activities. NOAA is now drawing on that experience, engaging the Digital Coast Partners to provide technical assistance to Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC) funded projects around the country.

The Climate Resilience Regional Challenge is a $573 million grant program administered by the NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management that supports collaborative projects aimed at increasing coastal community resilience to extreme weather. By focusing on risk reduction, community engagement, regional coordination, and long-term capacity building, the initiative will drive significant outcomes, including extensive habitat restoration, land acquisition, infrastructure improvements, the creation of community adaptation plans, and substantial investments in workforce development and economic activity.

A central focus of the partnership’s technical assistance to the CRRC projects is to support service delivery of high-resolution Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) land cover data. While already available for several coastal areas, NOAA most recently released new, higher-resolution land cover maps for coastal Alabama, Mississippi, Northeastern Ohio, Rhode Island, and the Puget Sound in Washington.

The new land cover mapping provides drastically improved visual resolution, from 30 meters to 1 meter, and is 900 times more detailed than what was produced 10 years ago. Having that level of detail will help decision-makers in the U.S. document key geographic and landscape features at various locations on the Earth’s surface and track how their land use is changing.

Land cover maps document on-the-ground features, from forests and wetlands to impervious surfaces, like buildings and roads. The Digital Coast Partners will be helping individual CRRC project teams understand and use the high-resolution land cover data for building resilience and reducing the risk of natural hazards.

More broadly, the land cover data will be made available through the Digital Coast website and will provide all coastal communities with better information for decisions related to stormwater management, water quality assessments, urban heat and tree canopy/cover projects, wetland restoration, modeling, flood mitigation, and more.

As this work continues, Digital Coast Partners will produce case studies and share the successes and lessons learned by the CRRC project teams as they engage with us through the technical assistance process.

Get Involved & Learn More

Whether you want to follow the CRRC projects as they unfold, put the new C-CAP data to work in your own community, or connect with the NOAA directly, here’s where to start:

• ASFPM Involvement & Engagement: Learn how ASFPM is involved and explore member opportunities by contacting Jeff Stone, ASFPM Flood Science Center Co-Director at jeff@floods.org.
• C-CAP Data & Case Studies: Access the C-CAP high-resolution land cover data or share how you’ve used it by contacting Nate Herold, NOAA Physical Scientist at nate.herold@noaa.gov.

Watch for more updates on the CRRC projects and the growing C-CAP dataset in future issues of News & Views.

The post From Data to Action: Supporting Coastal Resilience first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The 51-47 vote confirmed more than 70 nominees as part of one package, including the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the director of the Indian Health Service. 

Hamilton’s confirmation vote follows a bit of a rollercoaster for him at FEMA. He ran the agency in an acting capacity for the first few months of 2025 before being fired after testifying to Congress that he personally did “not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”

He then spent several months working as a senior adviser in the Education Department before being hired as the senior vice president of response and recovery at LTS, Inc., a consulting firm in Virginia. He stayed there until April, when he became a senior adviser/senior counselor at the Department of Homeland Security. 

‘Fair and reasonable’

Trump formally nominated Hamilton as his pick for FEMA administrator in May without the hype he’s doled out for some of his other picks.  

Hamilton testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in June that if confirmed to run the agency he wouldn’t provide more resources to Republican regions of the country over Americans who vote for Democrats. 

“What I can tell you is that if confirmed, my focus will be to ensure that FEMA is objective, is fair and reasonable, follows the law, and is consistent in the approach to how we adjudicate and process claims and requests for disasters,” he said. 

Shifting responsibilities to states

During his time away from the federal government, Hamilton spoke about his experiences running FEMA in an acting role on an episode of the “Disaster Tough” podcast released in September.

“I was not hired to abolish FEMA. That was never a part of the conversation and that’s never something that I would have agreed with,” he said at the time. “And I was very clear, I wanted some reform. I wanted to cut wasteful spending. I wanted to downsize the agency. There’s no denying that. And I think most of those things could be done wisely and properly.”

Any offloading of responsibilities from the federal government to states, he said, would include “a gradual phasing out.”

“We needed to give the states some time to see what that entails and to respond accordingly,” he said on the podcast. “Not just, ‘Hey, the water is now shut off. You’re on your own.’ That’s not wise. That’s not being a good partner.”

Trump has spoken throughout his second administration about shifting some of the responsibility for natural disaster preparedness and response to state governments. 

“We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump said in June 2025. “We’re moving it back to the states so the governors can handle it. That’s why they’re governors. Now, if they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.”

Trump established a FEMA Review Council to propose changes, which it did in May, though neither the president nor Congress has taken significant steps in the months since to implement any of the suggestions.

Funding debate

Congress approved a budget of $32 billion for FEMA for the current fiscal year with $26.4 billion of that for the disaster relief fund. 

The Trump administration asked lawmakers to cut funding for non-disaster FEMA grants by $1.3 billion in the spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year, which is set to begin Oct. 1. 

The White House budget office wrote in its proposals that reduced funding for those programs would refocus “the agency on sound emergency management while encouraging States and communities to build resilience and use their unique local knowledge and resources in disaster response.”

House Republicans proposed a total spending level of $34.1 billion for FEMA in fiscal 2027. Of that, $28.39 billion would be dedicated to the disaster relief fund. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to release its annual funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA. 

Republished from News From The States. View original article.

The post Senate Confirms Hamilton as FEMA Administrator first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

That’s why the Mentorship Connection on ASFPM’s The FloodZone was created to make it easier for professionals across the country to connect, share knowledge, and strengthen our profession together.

Why Mentorship Matters

No matter where you are in your career, everyone has something to learn and something to teach.

For those new to floodplain management, mentorship provides access to practical knowledge that isn’t always found in guidance documents or training courses. Conversations with experienced professionals can help build confidence, offer new perspectives, reduce the trial-and-error that often comes with tackling unfamiliar challenges and can lead to overall professional growth. 

For experienced professionals, mentoring is an opportunity to give back to the profession, develop leadership skills, and share decades of institutional knowledge with the next generation. Many mentors find they learn just as much from these conversations as the people they support.

When knowledge is shared, the entire profession benefits.

Collaboration Beyond One-on-One Mentorship

The FloodZone is more than a place to find a mentor. It’s a professional community designed to encourage year-round collaboration.

Members can:

• Exchange ideas and ask questions.
• Share lessons learned from projects and events.
• Participate in discussions with professionals from across the country.
• Build relationships that extend beyond a single conversation.
• Expand professional networks across disciplines and regions.

Every question asked, every experience shared, and every discussion started helps build a stronger knowledge base for the floodplain management community.

Help Build a Thriving Community

Like any professional community, The FloodZone is only as valuable as the participation of its members.

Whether you’re looking for a mentor, interested in becoming one, or simply want to connect with colleagues, your involvement helps create a more active and engaging experience for everyone.

Here’s how you can help:

• Log in to The FloodZone using your ASFPM Portal credentials.
• Complete your profile so other members can learn about your experience and interests.
• Join the Mentorship Connection as a mentor or mentee.
• Introduce yourself in the community feed.
• Ask a question, share a resource, or comment on a discussion.

Small actions from many members create a vibrant professional network that benefits the entire floodplain management community.

Join the Conversation

The challenges facing floodplain management continue to evolve, but one thing remains constant: we are stronger when we learn from one another.

Whether you’re just beginning your career or have decades of experience to share, there’s a place for you in The FloodZone. Together, we can build stronger professionals, stronger communities, and a stronger future for floodplain management.

The post Stronger Together: Building the Future of Floodplain Management Through Mentorship first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

To ensure those resources continue to meet members’ needs, ASFPM recently conducted a Flash Feedback survey examining member experiences with the organization’s tools and guidance resources. The results provide a snapshot of how professionals are using ASFPM’s information resources today and where they would like to see the organization focus its efforts in the future. 

Practical Resources Continue to Lead the Way

Members ranked guidance documents as the most useful resource type, followed by GIS resources, decision-support tools, case studies, and handouts. Traditional research reports, while still valuable, ranked below practical implementation-focused materials. 

This preference confirms what we’ve long heard from members: they value practical resources that help them solve real-world challenges. Floodplain management professionals want resources they can immediately apply to permit reviews, ordinance updates, project planning, public communication, and other daily responsibilities. We will continue to develop more of these resources in the future. 

The survey also found that members overwhelmingly prefer digital resources. More than half selected PDFs as their preferred format, while another quarter favored web-based content. Printed publications now represent only a small portion of user preference and we are slowly digitizing our existing collection of print publications to make them more accessible. Overall, these findings suggest that digital-first, easily searchable resources remain among the best ways to serve our members.

Which Topics Matter Most?

When asked what future products ASFPM should develop, respondents identified several clear priorities. Hazard identification and floodplain mapping ranked at the top of the list, closely followed by regulation and enforcement. Mitigation, planning, risk communication, flood insurance, funding mechanisms, and post-disaster response also received strong support. Together, these topics span the full lifecycle of flood risk management—from identifying hazards and administering regulations to communicating risk, securing funding, and supporting recovery after disasters. 

Existing Resources Continue to Deliver Value

The survey also asked respondents to identify their favorite ASFPM research publications and guidance documents. Among the most highly rated were:

• 2D Modeling Guidance for Floodplain Managers
• Emergency Manager’s Quick Guide to Floodplain Management
• No Adverse Impact How-To Guide Series
• Community Resilience Guide for Repetitive Flood Loss
• Local and State Floodplain Management Program Assessments

The survey also showed that two-thirds of respondents primarily use ASFPM products as personal references, while many also share them with colleagues, community members, and elected officials. This demonstrates that ASFPM’s resources frequently extend beyond individual users to support broader community education and decision-making.

Looking Ahead

The survey confirmed that members rely on ASFPM for practical guidance documents, technical tools, and implementation-focused publications that support their daily work. It also revealed a continued demand for resources  related to mapping, mitigation, regulation, and communication.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway of the survey is that ASFPM’s resources continue to evolve because members help shape what we produce. Their formal and informal feedback helps ensure future resources reflect the real-world challenges facing floodplain managers. 

The post Listening to Our Members: What the Latest Feedback Says About ASFPM Resources first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The document also includes project-specific recommendations for a wide range of mitigation activities, example cost-effectiveness narratives, and application submission instructions. While not a replacement for the HMA Guide, it serves as a practical reference for developing stronger, more complete HMA subapplications and may help speed up the review process and reduce requests for additional information.

Download FEMA document

The post FEMA Releases Application Support Material for HMA Projects Under $1 Million first appeared on Association of State Floodplain Managers.