August 5, 2024
By Jennifer Gilbert, NHDES Coastal Program
During the week of June 24, 2024, Lisa Wise (UNH Cooperative Extension/NH Sea Grant), Lucy Perkins (NHDES Coastal Program), and myself headed to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the 48th annual Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) national conference. The theme of this year’s conference was “resiliency is life elevated” and the sessions highlighted the power of partnerships and resilience, which is something we could all relate to as CAW members. The conference, which was the first for Lisa and Lucy and the sixth for me, proved to be a great learning and networking experience and one we wanted to share with the CAW network.
If you’re not familiar with ASFPM, they are a “scientific and educational nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing flood loss in the nation.” ASFPM provides ongoing professional development and training events, a certification program (Certified Floodplain Manager), information about research and technologies, and newsletters that keep members and nonmembers informed about flood-related legislation and policies, projects and initiatives from across the country, and so much more. Don’t let the name of the organization deter you from looking further into this great organization as you do not need to work for a state nor hold a floodplain manager position. ASFPM’s members of 7,000 individuals come from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines.
Another great benefit that ASFPM provides is hosting their annual national conference that is offered both in-person and virtually. The 2024 conference broke the record for in-person attendees with 1,705! The in-person conferences provide the additional opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and to meet and learn from other professionals from across the country.
The 2024 conference began with a series of training workshops that provided us and attendees with the opportunity to learn about various topics such as floodplain management 101, hazard mitigation assistance grants, and hands-on learning about elevation certificates from leading experts from state agencies and FEMA and their contractors. The four plenary presentations provided insights and inspiration from federal and state leaders about initiatives that seek to reduce flood risk and losses in the country’s most flood prone areas. With 81 concurrent sessions within 15 tracks, picking sessions to attend was not an easy task. The following is a summary of information and resources from sessions we attended and wanted to share.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Flood Risk Management Standard rule (published in April 2024) expands the floodplain boundaries beyond the 100-year floodplain, both horizontally and vertically, based on future flood risk for HUD-funded projects. The rule establishes a preference for use of a Climate Informed Science Approach (CISA) to determine the floodplain of concern, when possible.
- FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants and other funding opportunities seek to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from disaster damage. These opportunities include: Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program, Flood Mitigation Assistance Swift Current funding opportunity, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, and Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund Program.
- FEMA’s reduction of the Benefit-Cost Analysis discount rate in Hazard Mitigation Grant Programs resulted in a decrease from 7 percent to 3.1 percent, which aims to make more projects eligible and help with the increased costs of construction.
- A sneak preview was provided of the upcoming update to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Flood Resistant Design and Construction (ASCE 24-14), a referenced standard in the 2018 International Codes, which have been adopted into NH’s State Building Code. The updated ASCE 24-24 will include new risk-based freeboard requirements, which will address relative sea level rise, and will be consistent with ASCE-7-22, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, and FEMA’s updated National Flood Insurance Program’s Technical Bulletins. ASCE 24-24 is expected to be available in the Fall of 2024 and will be referenced in the 2027 International Codes.
- Massachusetts Building Code Study and Local Floodplain Action Guide is an ongoing collaborative project to promote flood resilience in the state. A preview was given about an evaluation of the state’s building code to determine future opportunities to increase climate resilience along with a guide to assist municipalities to take action to promote flood-smart development.
- City of Philadelphia’s A Resident’s Guide to a Flood Ready Home provides Eastwick neighborhood residents with information on how to protect their homes from flooding. This guide has the potential to be used as a model for a similar guide for neighborhoods or communities here.
After a whirlwind week of learning, networking, and exploring Salt Lake City, we returned home with our heads full of information and a desire to find ways to incorporate what we learned into our work and in our roles in CAW. As an ASFPM member since 2005, a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) since 2006, and as the current Region 1 Director on the ASFPM Board of Directors, I am happy to provide more details if you want to know more about ASFPM, becoming a member and/or a CFM, and about what we learned at the conference. Please feel free to contact me at jennifer.r.gilbert@des.nh.gov.
Photo credit: Lisa Wise