WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO MY COMMUNITY OF ADOPTING THE ADVISORY BASE FLOOD ELEVATIONS?
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita demonstrated the BFEs and flood boundaries on the current FIRMs may not provide an appropriate level of protection for new buildings and repairs of substantially damaged buildings. FEMA has developed the Advisory Base Flood Elevations to provide communities with an interim product they can use during reconstruction to assure that new buildings and repairs of substantially damaged buildings are reasonably protected from future flood damage. Although FEMA can not require communities to adopt the Advisory Base Flood Elevations, continued use of the flood data on the current FIRMs could result in residential and commercial buildings that will be vulnerable to flood damage because they will not be built high enough or have the structural integrity to resist flood forces that may be encountered in future large events.
