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Elevations (BFEs), or the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). The letter does not revise an effective NFIP map, it indicates whether the project, if built as proposed, would be recognized by FEMA. FEMA charges a fee for processing a CLOMR to recover the costs associated with the review that is described in the Letter of Map Change (LOMC) process. Building permits cannot be issued based on a CLOMR, because a CLOMR does not change the NFIP map.

CRITICAL BUILDING – Per the FHACA, “Critical Building” means that:

  • It is essential to maintain continuity of vital government operations and/or supporting emergency response, sheltering, and medical care functions before, during, and after a flood, such as a hospital, medical clinic, police station, fire station, emergency response center, or public shelter; or
  • It serves large numbers of people who may be unable to leave the facility through their own efforts, thereby hindering or preventing safe evacuation of the building during a flood event, such as a school, college, dormitory, jail or detention facility, day care center, assisted living facility, or nursing home.

DEVELOPMENT – Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to, buildings or other structures, tanks, temporary structures, temporary or permanent storage of materials, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavations, drilling operations and other land-disturbing activities.

DRY FLOODPROOFING – A combination of measures that results in a non-residential structure, including the attendant utilities and equipment as described in the latest version of ASCE 24, being watertight with all elements substantially impermeable and with structural components having the capacity to resist flood loads.

ELEVATED BUILDING – A building that has no basement and that has its lowest elevated floor raised above ground level by foundation walls, shear walls, posts, piers, pilings, or columns. Solid perimeter foundations walls are not an acceptable means of elevating buildings in V and VE Zones.

ELEVATION CERTIFICATE – An administrative tool of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that can be used to provide elevation information, to determine the proper insurance premium rate, and to support an application for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision based on fill (LOMR-F).

ENCROACHMENT – The placement of fill, excavation, buildings, permanent structures or other development into a flood hazard area which may impede or alter the flow capacity of riverine flood hazard areas.

FEMA PUBLICATIONS – Any publication authored or referenced by FEMA related to building science, building safety, or floodplain management related to the National Flood Insurance Program. Publications shall include but are not limited to technical bulletins, desk references, and American Society of Civil Engineers Standards documents including ASCE 24.

FLOOD OR FLOODING

  • A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
  • The overflow of inland or tidal waters.
  • The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
  • The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
  • Mudslides (I.e. mudflows) which are proximately caused by flooding as defined