Maine webinar outlines new digital flood maps, NFIP rating changes and local permitting duties

At a Municipal Planning Assistance Program webinar, Sue Baker, coordinator of the Maine Floodplain Management Program, walked municipal officials and planning staff through recent changes to flood hazard mapping, the National Flood Insurance Program's updated rating system, and required local permitting and record-keeping for development in mapped flood hazard areas.

Baker said FEMA has converted many older paper maps to digital flood insurance rate maps (DFIRMs) built on aerial imagery and two-foot topography, and that coastal areas now use AE/VE designations tied to new engineering analyses. She described three core elements of the program: mapping, federally backed flood insurance, and locally enforced floodplain regulations.

The changes matter to property owners and local officials because the DFIRMs can alter where the 1% annual-chance flood (commonly called the 100-year flood) is mapped and because FEMA's 2022 Risk Rating 2.0 shifted how insurance premiums are calculated. "They set actuarially sound rates,"…