Department of
Economic & Community Development
Matthew Kisber, Commissioner

Flood Map Modernization Program

Since it was determined that nearly three-fourths of the nation's flood risk identification maps are more than 10 years old and very outdated, Congress created the Flood Map Modernization Program in 2003. Traditionally, map amendments were funded through very limited flood insurance fees of approximately $35-$50 million dollars per year to serve more than 20,000 communities. Recognizing the importance of updating and modernizing the maps into a geospatial format, Congress allocated $150 million in 2003, $200 million in 2004 and $200 million in 2005 to supplement the fee-generated funds for the development of new digital risk maps.

In accordance with Federal guidance, Tennessee first targeted the counties with high population and high growth with significant risk of flood loss. The second approach has been to target those counties that are participating in the Tennessee Base Mapping Program. The Tennessee State Base Mapping Program parcel-based digital data will serve as the statewide base on which Tennessee's new flood risk maps will be developed. This system will allow for the development, maintenance and distribution of geospatial data to any and all potential map users.

The new updates will be developed in a county-wide format. To accurately complete the map updates, local community involvement is crucial. The process includes public meetings with local officials to collect all available information and identify areas of high growth and flood risk. In addition to the maps, a new narrative Flood Insurance Study will be developed to document flood hazards and provide a description of the hydrologic and hydraulic methods utilized to produce the maps.

The map will be submitted to each community for review prior to public release and a 90 day public review before finalization in preliminary format after the study is completed. When the map is finalized, the community will have six months in which to adopt the new maps for local enforcement purposes.

View the status and process of the Tennessee Map Modernization here.