New York State Specific Floodplain Management Standards

Learn from Certified Floodplain Manager Brent Gotsch about the New York State Specific Floodplain Management Standards. The Federal government, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sets minimum regulations and standards for communities to follow. States (and local communities) can set more restrictive standards. The State of New York has several standards that go above and beyond minimum federal regulations. For example, FEMA requires all new and substantially improved construction in a mapped floodplain to have a first floor built to the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). BFE is a measure of the water surface elevation of flood waters from the 100-year flood. The State of New York has a requirement of two feet of freeboard for all new and substantially improved construction in a mapped floodplain. Freeboard is an additional level of elevation above the BFE. This provides additional margins of safety for structures built in the floodplain. There are several other standards that New York State has that are discussed in the video. This video was produced in produced in conjunction with AWSMP and Vecc Videography (https://www.veccvideography.net/). This video was produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County with funding provided by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. See other educational videos about streams on AWSMP’s YouTube Page and on Instagram (@AshokanStreams). For more information on the AWSMP, visit www.ashokanstreams.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AWSMPUlster/.