KAMM Updates

Kentucky Watches, Warnings or Advisories  – Weather Alerts Follow the alerts, link here.

 

2018 KAMM Conference Recap

Mitigation Superheroes: Investing in Our Communities

We have presentations, photos, Certificate of Attendance and resources.   Link to Conference Recap.

 

Time to Renew KAMM Membership

Join KAMM for 2019!  Link to Join KAMM.  

 

Save the Date!
2019 KAMM Conference
Lake Barkley State Resort Park
September 17-19, 2019
September 16, 2019 – Pre-conference

 

Water Finance Webinar

Improving Return on Stormwater Investments Through Crediting and Pay-For-Performance

January 31, 2019, 1:30 – 3:00 pm ET

You are invited to attend a webinar hosted by EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center.  This webinar will provide an introduction to stormwater crediting and specific examples of pay-for-performance approaches in communities.  Hear about how crediting can help you get more for your stormwater dollar, and hear about successes, challenges, and lessons learned from Tennessee and Maryland.  Come with questions and hear discussion on this innovative series of stormwater financing practices.  For more information about the webinar series: https://www.epa.gov/waterfinancecenter/leading-edge-stormwater-financing-webinars

Speakers: – Chad Praul, Partner, Environmental Incentives – Erik Michelsen, Administrator, Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, Anne Arundel County Maryland – Dave Smith, Manager, Water Quality Assessment Section, EPA Region 9 – Mo Minkara, Water Quality Manager, City of Chattanooga

Register here.

 

New FloodSmart.gov

January 2019

The updates to FloodSmart.gov incorporates social science and website usage research as well as best practices for a streamlined and customer-centric experience.  The next phase of the website launch will include insurance agent toolkits, social media templates, marketing tools, and flood map change toolkits.

For Consumers, the website focuses on flood insurance …

  • Why Buy or Renew
  • How to Buy or Renew
  • Understanding Costs
  • Before and After a Flood

The BIG Cost of Flooding – Interactive Tool

Whether people in your community end up having to repair or replace their building and or its contents, recovering from flood damage is expensive!  Most homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies do not cover flood damage, so it is important for citizens to speak with their insurance agent or company to find what their policies cover. 

To help communicate some of these costs to people, Floodsmart.gov has created an interactive tool to show people the flood recovery costs of several different flood depths for multiple home sizes.  To see the interactive tool, visit https://www.floodsmart.gov/costOfFlooding/index.html. 

FloodSmart.gov is the official website of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 

 

Updated Fact Sheet:  Map Changes and Flood Insurance: What Property Owners Need to Know

January 2019

FEMA recently updated a fact sheet that educates property owners on map changes and flood insurance.  The update titled, Map Changes and Flood Insurance: What Property Owners Need to Know, includes a printer friendly version and a Spanish version. The fact sheet explains what flood maps are, why they change, how flood maps show flood risks, and how flood maps are used by community officials, mortgage lenders, insurance professionals, developers, and home and business owners.  The material also includes information on how the risk shown on a flood map is reflected in insurance premiums, what to do if a new flood map shows your risk has changed, and how to reduce your rates. 

The materials can also be found on the NFIP Publication webpage under “Before The Flood.”

 

Homeowner’s Guide to Map Amendments Released

October 2018

FEMA has created an easy to read and follow guide that helps homeowners understand the process for Letters of Map Amendment (LOMAs) and Letters of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-Fs). LOMA or LOMR-F are processes to gain a better understanding of your home’s flood risk – and potentially lower your flood insurance premium.

This guide was created to increase the number of complete applications by providing clear instructions on who is eligible to apply, what should be included in an application, and what happens after you receive a determination letter.

This guide is intended for homeowners and can serve as a valuable resource to hand out during community meetings, such as Open Houses, as well as for stakeholders who are engaging with the public at other times. 

You can download the guide here or on FEMA’s website at https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/172215.

For application materials, visit MT-1 Application Forms and Instructions for Conditional and Final Letters of Map Amendment and Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/31858).

 

KAMM Receives 2018 Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador Recognition  

November 2018
 
We are very pleased to be recognized by the National Weather Service (NWS) as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador for the organization’s support to NWS’ goal of creating a Weather-Ready Nation.  The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador initiative is an effort to formally recognize NOAA partners who are improving the nation’s readiness against extreme weather, water, and climate events.
 
KAMM promoted NWS efforts in the Community Collaborative Rain Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network by providing several dozen official CoCoRaHS rain gauges as speaker gifts and door prizes at our 2018 conference at Lake Barkley State Resort Park.  Everyone that received a rain gauge agreed to participate in the CoCoRaHS citizen science network.  Through these efforts, KAMM strengthened an already valuable Weather-Ready Nation partnership. KAMM has collaborated with the NWS offices in Kentucky for nearly 15 years in an effort to promote mitigation of natural hazards in the Commonwealth. 
 
Link to a Story Map highlighting our recognition and many others at: https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=38d9ed51a5e14a4b9c32342ea3da06dd.
 
 

FEMA Announces Interim Management Costs Policies

November 15, 2018

FEMA released two interim polices Nov. 15 as part of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) implementation.

On Oct. 5, 2018, President Trump signed the DRRA into law.  The legislation contains critical reforms to federal disaster programs.  To begin implementation of these reforms, both the FEMA Public Assistance Management Costs (Interim) Policy and the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Management Costs (Interim) Policy are now available. Follow the linked Policy titles. 

Both policies will offer greater flexibility to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments and may allow more funding to manage Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and Public Assistance programs.  Under these interim policies, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners may be allowed higher rates of reimbursement for their management costs when implementing Public Assistance (12 percent) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects (15 percent).

The DRRA defines management costs as indirect costs, direct administrative costs, and any other administrative expenses for a specific project.  These policies will help to simplify the delivery of FEMA’s programs and provides incentives for recipients to practice efficient grants management and complete activities in a timely manner

FEMA worked to develop the interim policies shortly after the law was passed to provide immediate guidance to grant recipients and subrecipients on how they may benefit from the changes to reimbursement for management costs.  FEMA is working through implementation guidance for both interim policies.

Visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster-recovery-reform-act-2018 for more information and to find a summary of each section of the act, as well as the status on FEMA’s implementation.  In total, the law contains more than 50 provisions that require FEMA policy or regulation changes for full implementation.  To view a summary of all the changes in DRRA, click HERE.

 

Updated FEMA 213, Answers to Questions About Substantially Improved / Substantially Damaged Buildings 

October 26, 2018

A joint effort by the Building Science Branch and Floodplain Management Division, updated FEMA 213 significantly expands the number of questions answered in the 1991 version of the publication. The enforcement of the SI/SD requirements can be a major concern for local officials, especially after their communities experience widespread damage from floods or other disasters. The questions and answers in the revised FEMA 213 are intended to guide floodplain administrators, building officials, building inspectors, zoning administrators, citizen planning boards, and elected and other local officials who have roles in enforcing floodplain management and building codes It is also helpful for architects, engineers, contractors, building owners and others.

FEMA 213 provides short answers to many questions and concerns, while encouraging local officials and others to refer to more complete guidance in FEMA P-758, Substantial Improvement/Substantial Damage Desk Reference. Each question includes a text box referring readers to specific sections in the SI/SD Desk Reference.

The revised FEMA 213 has four sections:

  • Section 1 briefly describes the NFIP and the purpose of the booklet.
  • Section 2 answers questions about pertinent definitions and regulations, and also answers some general questions about SI/SD.
  • Section 3 answers questions about how to determine substantial improvement and substantial damage.
  • Section 4 answers common questions that arise in the post-disaster period.

FEMA 213 is available here on FEMA’s Floodplain Management Publications webpage.

 

Story Map Highlights Award-Winning CTP: Kentucky Division of Water Resources

Kentucky CTP Story Map

When it comes to mapping Kentucky’s floodplains, the Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW) is a Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) with FEMA.  The CTP Program is an innovative approach to creating partnerships between FEMA and other agencies that have the interest and capability to become more active participants in the FEMA flood hazard mapping program.  

In 2018, KDOW was awarded 1st place in the CTP Recognition Program.  The Division was recognized by FEMA for excellence in Communications, Outreach and Program Management for integrating different technologies to communicate flood risk, including virtual reality and live polling during meetings, and for embracing a variety of partnerships.  KDOW’s work has been featured in a story map that is an interactive product that uses GIS maps, narrative text, images and video to showcase CTP work.

View the story map at http://arcg.is/1nqua0 to see some of the great things that the Kentucky Risk MAP team had done over the past several years.

 
 
 
 
For more mitigation resources and other publications, go to KAMM’s Mitigation Resources page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to join the KAMM group on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Have questions, contact us at help@kymitigation.org. 

 

 

 

 

 

For best results we recommend you update to Adobe Reader.

This software is available, for no cost, at http://get.adobe.com/reader/