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Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§4105 Disaster mitigation requirements; notification to flood-prone areas

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 50— - NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - COORDINATION OF FLOOD INSURANCE WITH LAND-MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS › § 4105

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Administrator must publish information and, within six months following December 31, 1973, notify the chief executive officer of any known flood-prone community not already in the national flood insurance program that it is tentatively identified as having one or more areas with special flood hazards. After that notice, the community must either quickly apply to join the national flood insurance program or, within six months, give technical data showing it is not seriously flood prone or that flood problems have been fixed. The Administrator may hold a public hearing when data conflict. If no hearing is held, the community can submit written evidence. The Administrator’s final decision about flood hazards is binding if it is supported by substantial evidence. When new information shows other communities may be flood-prone, the Administrator must send the same kind of notice and they must follow the same steps. Communities that do not qualify for the program within one year after the notice, or by the date in section 4106 (whichever is later), will face the rules for flood-prone communities not in the program. A community or any property owner or lessee can appeal the flood-hazard identification. If an appeal is wholly or partly successful, the Administrator will reimburse reasonable surveyor or engineer costs in proportion to the successful part of the appeal (no legal fees or contingency payments). Up to $250,000 is authorized to carry out these reimbursements.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §4105

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than six months following December 31, 1973, the Administrator shall publish information in accordance with section 4101(1) of this title, and shall notify the chief executive officer of each known flood-prone community not already participating in the national flood insurance program of its tentative identification as a community containing one or more areas having special flood hazards.
(b)After such notification, each tentatively identified community shall either (1) promptly make proper application to participate in the national flood insurance program or (2) within six months submit technical data sufficient to establish to the satisfaction of the Administrator that the community either is not seriously flood prone or that such flood hazards as may have existed have been corrected by flood-works or other flood control methods. The Administrator may, in his discretion, grant a public hearing to any community with respect to which conflicting data exist as to the nature and extent of a flood hazard. If the Administrator decides not to hold a hearing, the community shall be given an opportunity to submit written and documentary evidence. Whether or not such hearing is granted, the Administrator’s final determination as to the existence or extent of a flood hazard area in a particular community shall be deemed conclusive for the purposes of this Act if supported by substantial evidence in the record considered as a whole.
(c)As information becomes available to the Administrator concerning the existence of flood hazards in communities not known to be flood prone at the time of the initial notification provided for by subsection (a) of this section he shall provide similar notifications to the chief executive officers of such additional communities, which shall then be subject to the requirements of subsection (b) of this section.
(d)Formally identified flood-prone communities that do not qualify for the national flood insurance program within one year after such notification or by the date specified in section 4106 of this title, whichever is later, shall thereafter be subject to the provisions of that section relating to flood-prone communities which are not participating in the program.
(e)The Administrator is authorized to establish administrative procedures whereby the identification under this section of one or more areas in the community as having special flood hazards may be appealed to the Administrator by the community or any owner or lessee of real property within the community who believes his property has been inadvertently included in a special flood hazard area by the identification. When, incident to any appeal under this subsection, the owner or lessee of real property or the community, as the case may be, incurs expense in connection with the services of surveyors, engineers, or similar services, but not including legal services, in the effecting of an appeal which is successful in whole or part, the Administrator shall reimburse such individual or community to an extent measured by the ratio of the successful portion of the appeal as compared to the entire appeal and applying such ratio to the reasonable value of all such services, but no reimbursement shall be made by the Administrator in respect to any fee or expense payment, the payment of which was agreed to be contingent upon the result of the appeal. There is authorized to be appropriated for purposes of implementing this subsection not to exceed $250,000.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (b), means Pub. L. 93–234, Dec. 31, 1973, 87 Stat. 975, known as the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

of 1973 Amendment note set out under section 4001 of this title and Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, and not as part of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

2012—Subsecs. (a) to (c), (e). Pub. L. 112–141 substituted “Administrator” for “Director” and “Administrator’s” for “Director’s” wherever appearing. 1984—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 98–479 struck out quotation marks before “$250,000”. 1983—Subsecs. (a) to (c), (e). Pub. L. 98–181 substituted “Director” for “Secretary” and “Director’s” for “Secretary’s” wherever appearing. 1977—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 95–128 added subsec. (e).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of all functions, personnel, assets, components, authorities, grant programs, and liabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the functions of the Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management relating thereto, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, see section 315(a)(1) of Title 6, Domestic Security. For

Transfer of Functions

, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the functions of the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see former section 313(1) and section 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 4105

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73