Flood Response and Substantial Damage in New York State
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More than 25% of flood claims come from outside of mapped high-risk floodplains.
Most high-risk floodplains are shown on FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
Over the past 12 years, every county in the state has seen flooding. 16 counties have had 5 or more federal flood disasters.
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Over 620,000 New Yorkers live in flood risk areas, and nearly 20,000 properties have flooded multiple times.
1,504 municipalities have adopted floodplain regulations and joined the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Nearly 61,000 New Yorkers have taken steps to protect their properties and reduce the chances of future flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program Rebuilding Requirements
Many communities in New York are suffering and recovering from extreme flooding. In many areas, flooding has hit record levels or levels not seen in decades. Residents and business owners are understandably anxious to repair damaged building components. Municipalities are already burdened with the necessity to make sure that structures are safe, restore access, and repair damaged infrastructure. However, it is essential at this critical time that reconstruction and repairs are done in accordance with flood protection standards in order to reduce damages from future flood events and to maintain a good standing in the National Flood Insurance Program.
Floodplain Development Requirements
Rebuilding requirements after a flood or any other disaster must also consider the floodplain development contained in community local laws that were passed as a condition of participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. These requirements are also contained in the New York State Uniform Code.
Break the Damage - Rebuild - Damage Cycle
A primary goal of the National Flood Insurance Program is to break the damage - rebuild - damage cycle by requiring all new, substantially improved, and substantially damaged structures within mapped flood hazard areas to be constructed in a manner that is reasonably safe from flooding. That requires proper building elevation and protection techniques.
Flood and Substantial Damage Resources
In light of New York State’s flood risk, the state has assembled a comprehensive suite of resources dedicated to flood management and disaster recovery. These resources can assist communities and stakeholders in bolstering their resilience and mitigating the impact of flooding. The resources are summarized in the links below.
New York Flood and Substantial Damage Quick Guide
Substantial Damage Management Plan Template
New York After the Flood Guide for Residents
Flood Response and Substantial Damage Quick Guide
The Flood Response and Substantial Damage in New York State Quick Guide was prepared by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to help community officials prepare for, respond to, and recover from flood emergencies. It is intended to be a quick reference guide to address steps taken before, during, and after a flood event.
This guide is organized into three sections: Before the Flooding, During the Flooding, and After the Flood. These sections cover the following topics in sequential order from identification of the flood threat through flood recovery.
- Planning and preparing for a flood
- Public Awareness and Outreach
- Safety Considerations
- Assessing Damages
- Cleaning up after a flood
- Federal assistance
- Insurance claims
- Additional resources
What is a Substantial Damage Plan?
A substantial damage management plan identifies available data about flood-prone buildings, helps educate community leaders and the public, guides the community in building its capacity to conduct post-flood substantial damage determinations, outlines its procedures for doing so, and specifies the steps the community will take if buildings are determined to be substantially damaged.
All New York State communities are strongly encouraged to prepare a Substantial Damage Plan. This proactive step will help ensure community officials have the guidance and resources to effectively respond to and recover from flood emergencies while meeting the Substantial Damage requirements of your Flood Damage Prevention ordinance.
What is Substantial Damage?
If repairs needed to bring a structure to its pre-damage condition will equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure (not including the value of the land), the structure is considered to be substantially damaged.
Substantial Damage Plan (SDP) Template
The SD Management Plan Template aims to help your community produce a written plan that describes your strategy for managing post-disaster responsibilities and vulnerability. The plan should describe your community’s overall strategy and document the steps and responsible parties involved in ensuring substantial damage responsibilities are met.
The SD Plan Template has all the forms, letter templates, and factsheets you’ll need after a flood event, including fillable assessment worksheets and letters to property owners to alert them about post-flood assessment activities and substantial damage determination findings.
The Substantial Damage Plan Supporting Guide provides an overview of what is included in the SD Plan Template and how to adapt the template to meet your community's needs.
Fillable Forms
Even if your community doesn’t develop its own Substantial Damage Management Plan, the fillable forms, letter templates, factsheets and social media posts are available to make your job easier!
The state has created a set of customizable fillable forms to aid communities in the substantial damage assessment process. The blank spaces allow for adaptation to each community's specific needs.
Available fillable forms and templates include:
- Letters to property owners
- Public notice template
- Sample notices and press release
- SD fact sheet
- Annual plan evaluation report template
- Potential SD properties inventory template
- Substantial Damage Inspection Worksheets
- Substantial Improvement/Substantial Damage Permit Worksheet
After the Flood Guide for Residents
Your residents will need information after the flood. Argh! I Just Flooded Now What? – is a quick guide to Help New York state residents recover smartly and features the following information:
- Tips on clean up, debris removal, and getting help.
- Guidance on floodplain rules, permit requirements, and starting repairs.
- How to protect from future flooding, who to contact, and programs to help pay for damages caused by flooding.
After a flood, your residents will likely have many questions about flood insurance coverage and filing claims. Floodsmart.gov, the official website of the NFIP, is a comprehensive source of information about flood insurance.
Mutual Aid Agreements
Because most building departments do not maintain sufficient personnel levels to handle the influx of post-disaster inspections, permitting and enforcement tasks, mutual aid agreements allow communities to augment their personnel in times of need.
Mutual aid agreements establish the terms under which one party sends resources—personnel, teams, facilities, equipment and/or supplies—to another party.
The NYS Legislature created the Intrastate Mutual Aid Program (IMAP) through Executive Law § 29‐h. It provides for mutual assistance among the participating local governments in the prevention of, response to, and recovery from any disaster that results in a formal declaration of an emergency by a participating local government. The Program also provides for cooperation among participating local governments in conducting disaster‐related drills, exercises, or other training activities outside of actual declared emergency periods.
Local Automatic Aid
These agreements are usually basic contracts between or among neighboring local entities and permit the automatic dispatch and response of requested resources without incident-specific approval or consideration of entity boundaries.
Local Mutual Aid
Under these agreements, local resources may be used to assist Federal departments and agencies in fulfilling their missions under special circumstances. Incorporating private sector, NGO and community-based organizations into a mutual aid network provides parties with access to more resources.
Regional/Statewide Mutual Aid
These types of agreements are made below the state level between multiple jurisdictions and are often sponsored by a council of governments or similar regional body. These agreements incorporate both state and local governmental and nongovernmental assets to increase preparedness and disaster recovery statewide.
Code Enforcement Disaster Assistance Response (CEDAR) Program
The Department of State Division of Building Standards and Codes (BSC) Code Enforcement Disaster Assistance Response (CEDAR) Program provides a unified method that allows communities to access the broad range of resources available within and beyond the Department of State. The program's initial disaster response focuses on performing Rapid Evaluation Safety Assessments of damaged structures in affected communities for use as part of the application process to request federal disaster assistance through FEMA. More information on the CEDAR program can be found on the Department of State website.
Interstate Mutual Aid
New York has enacted legislation to enable and support local, interstate mutual aid agreements. Tribal Nations also enter into agreements to assist fellow Tribal Nations, states, or local governments. An example of an interstate mutual aid compact is the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), which is administered by the National Emergency Management Association. State-to-state assistance through EMAC enables support from response to recovery; however, EMAC does not cover interstate mutual aid before the affected state makes an emergency or disaster declaration.
Technical assistance and guidance is available from the following sources:
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation: [email protected] | (518) 402-8185
NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services: [email protected] | (518) 242-5000
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