Regulatory Products TrainingJuly 30, 2015

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Introduction and Overview• This training covers Regulatory Product Guidance and Technical

Reference updates for May 2015 (and follows a more general training).• Regulatory Products Team Background• Scott McAfee (FEMA) scott.mcafee@fema.dhs.gov• Kristen MacDougall (Compass)

FIRM Panel Technical Reference Update FIRM Panel and Index Guidance Updates FIS Report Technical Reference and (new) Guidance

• Dan Horner (IBM) FIRM Database Technical Reference and Guidance

Domain Tables Technical Reference Update DVT Guidance NFHL Guidance

• Andrea Weakland (STARR) PMR Guidance (new)

FIRM Panel Technical Reference (TR) Update

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FIRM Panel TR• Clarified use of Public Land Survey System (PLSS) as reference grid [Section 4.1.1,

Horizontal Reference System] When PLSS features are present, they serve as the primary horizontal reference grid. The primary FIRM projection is then shown utilizing both tics and crosshairs and serves as the secondary

reference grid for the FIRM. If additional projection information is desired to be shown, it is only depicted as tic marks along the opposing panel

edges.

• Clarified explanation for application of Township/Range panel body note [Section 4.1.1, Table 6]

Township and Range note for panels with a single township and range present on a panel. This note is only placed when a panel does not contain any township and range lines.

Township and Range note for panels with either two townships or ranges present on a panel. This note is placed when a panel does not contain both a township and a range line.

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FIRM Panel TR• Updates to Notes to User text: FIRM Info & Levee NTU [Section 6]

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FIRM Panel TR• Updates to Notes to User text: LiMWA [Section 6]

• Updated scale bar font specification [Section 7]

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FIRM Panel TR• Updated various example graphics to reflect specifications in the “Standard” columns.

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FIRM Panel TR• FIRM Panel MXD templates relating to updates mentioned above have also been updated

Flood County USA vector templateFlood County USA ortho template

FIS Report Technical Reference (TR) Update

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FIS Report TR

NEW

• Extracted guidance from TR and placed it into the FIS Report Guidance document

• Clarified requirements for FIS Report Cover• Inclusion of Preliminary Note• Handling multi-county communities• Volume number labeling

• Added requirements for alphabetizing entries in tables, where applicable

• Table 4: Coastal Barrier Resources System Information• Table 9: Levees• Table 27: Incorporated Letters of Map Change• Table 30: Community Meetings

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FIS Report TR• Clarified requirements for how certain tables should be populated, based on recent Mapping

Partner questions• Table 1: Listing of NFIP Jurisdictions• Table 2: Flooding Sources Included in this FIS Report• Table 4: Coastal Barrier Resources System Information• Table 9: Levees• Table 11: Summary of Non-Coastal Stillwater Elevations• Table 27: Incorporated Letters of Map Change• Table 28: Community Map History• Table 29: Summary of Contracted Studies Included in this FIS Report• Table 30: Community Meetings• Table 31: Map Repositories

• Changed format of “Table 23: Summary of Topographic Elevation Data used in Mapping” to better account for accuracy reporting of LiDAR datasets

• Incorporated Floodway Data Table and Flood Profile creation instructions for flooding sources at the coastal & riverine tie-ins

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FIS Report TR• FIS Report template relating to updates mentioned above has also been updated

FIRM Panel and Index Guidance Updates

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FIRM Panel Guidance• Additional guidance provided in depiction of secondary horizontal grid ticks

(Corresponds to FIRM Panel Technical Reference updates for horizontal reference grid) When PLSS features are present, they serve as the primary horizontal reference grid. The primary projection used for

FIRM panel production is then shown with both ticks marks and crosshairs and serves as the secondary horizontal reference grid for the FIRM. If additional projection information is desired to be shown, it is only depicted only as tick marks along the panel edges

If PLSS features are not present and the primary reference grid is UTM, then a secondary grid is optional. Other reference grids (e.g., State Plane) may be used as the primary reference grid. If UTM is not the primary reference grid, then it is used as the secondary reference grid (shown as grid ticks) and included on the FIRM. UTM and State Plane Reference grids or grid ticks should be shown extending to the FIRM neatline.

The secondary grid ticks are shown as cross hairs within the body of the map and ticks along the FIRM panel edge.

• Clarifying information added for FIRM title block elements: version number, effective date, community lists

• If the community name is long enough to require more than one line, “OF” should never be on a line by itself. If a second line is required, the complete community title (“CITY OF,” “TOWN OF,” etc.) should be placed on it. This keeps the proper name and the general title complete on each of the two lines

• When more than one line in a community name is required, the subsequent lines in the name should be indented one or two spaces, for a visual aid in reading the name

• A community’s CID, panel number, and suffix should be placed on the last line of the jurisdiction to which they belong, so users can read an entire community name, then view its community number and FIRM panel information to the right.

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FIRM Index Guidance• Clarified county boundary, HUC8 boundary representation on FIRM Index

The county polygon should have no border. Community boundaries within the county should have yellow borders. The HUC8 polygons should have no border at the county boundary. HUC8 boundaries within the county should have

green borders.

• Added guidance on what to include with PMR submissions Complete S_Pol_Ar and S_FIRM_Pan layers should be submitted regardless of the PMR footprint

o The complete FIRM panel layer promotes improved data quality by giving QAQC reviewers an opportunity to check the full accuracy of the index map image against the S_FIRM_Pan layer.

o The complete political area layer will ensure compliance with Standard ID # 378 (“For PMRs where updated political boundaries are available for the entire extent of the FIRM database, the S_Pol_Ar feature class shall be incorporated into the RFHL and shown on the FIRM Index.”). The intent of this standard is to allow for political boundary updates for the entire FIRM Index regardless of the PMR footprint. Please refer to the FIRM Database Technical Reference, FIRM Database Guidance, and DVT Guidance for full details on S_FIRM_Pan and S_Pol_Ar submittal requirements. Further details on submitting S_Pol_Ar for PMRs are also provided in Section 9.0 below.

• Clarified guidance for map dates; added reference to the explanation of map dates in the FIRM Database Technical Reference

PNPs should not have map dates printed on the Index body Do not print the “9/9/9999” date placeholder for Preliminary panels

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FIRM Index Guidance• The FIRM Index MXD template relating to updates mentioned above has also been updated

FIS Report Guidance (New Guidance Document)

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FIS Report Guidance• New guidance document developed from information previously published in Technical

References/Procedure Memoranda

• Additional guidance to clarify how certain tables should be populated Table 2: Flooding Sources Included in this FIS Report Table 9: Levees Table 10: Summary of Discharges Table 13: Summary of Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analyses Table 14: Roughness Coefficients Table 21: Stream-Based Vertical Datum Conversion Table 24: Floodway Data Table 28: Community Map History Table 29: Summary of Contracted Studies Included in this FIS Report

FIRM Database Updates

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FIRM Database Technical Reference• Removed several explanatory sections in favor of the newly drafted FIRM Database

Guidance document• Increased field with for ZONE_SUBTY and AR_SUBTRV to 72 to accommodate new domain

options and added new combined coastal/riverine domain options to the Flood Zone and Zone Subtype Crosswalk table

• Increased field width for CONF_TYPE to 26 to accommodate new domain option• Added information to WSEL_REG field description to include coastal regulatory information

For cross-sections in the coastal floodplain, the WSEL_REG value should be coded “-8888”. For cross-sections in the combined coastal and riverine floodplain, this value should reflect the results of the combined rate of occurrence analysis

• Increased field width for ORIENT to accommodate existing domains• Removed option to submit projects to FEMA in NSRS 2007 projection. Additional conversion

guidance found in FIRM Database Guidance document

• FIRM Database Template was also updated for these new field widths, domains, and relationships

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FIRM Database Guidance• This is the first issuance of this document and it covers several FIRM database topics and

tables.

• General guidance:o Data sources to use to build a FIRM Databaseo Tables to include in the FIRM Database for various project types and with consideration to the FIS report

updating to the new specifications or remaining in the oldo File formats for production and submission to FEMAo Database deliverables to FEMA across the various MIP tasks

• Spatial Reference Guidance: Precision of data populated in the database and how it relates to the NFHL in decimal degrees Cluster tolerance and spatial resolution specifications and conversions with consideration to latitudinal differences

and the NFHL specifications

• Projection and Datum Guidance: Working with a database in native projection and exportation to Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) for submission

to FEMA Vertical Datum expectations and a reference to the Vertical Datum Guidance document

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FIRM Database Guidance• Topology guidance:

How to preserve topology when converting from the database native projection to GCS for submission to FEMA

Explanations of coincident features and a list of spatial relationships between tables Expectations of topology within shapefiles submitted to FEMA Minimum area requirements to limit the number of small polygons

• Guidance on: Documenting data sources in L_Source_Cit Edgematching and meeting the relevant standards Agreement between multiple layers and agreement between new/revised data and

existing/unrevised data Agreement between FIRM panels and communities within and outside of the project area Resolving overlaps and gaps and when some overlaps are acceptable Database feature Version IDs with a reference to additional versioning information

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FIRM Database Guidance• Table specific guidance is also included for every table to explain the table usage, where

additional information can be located, and how to meet the standards associated with the FIRM database and using the detailed information in the FIRM Database Technical Reference

• Table-specific Guidance of Note: Alluvial fan feature relationships to flood zones Placement of datum conversion points FIRM panel numbering Irregular flood zone designations Zone AR usage New flood hazard line options Storing nodes and their relationships with other tables Naming political areas in the table Storing information for ANIs and multi-county communities Populating Z and M values in PBLs

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FIRM Database Guidance• Additional Table-specific Guidance of Note:

PBL relationships with water lines and water areas PBLs for model-backed Zone As and backwater Population and extents of S_Submittal_Info features Populating tabular community information regarding historic mapping dates and ANIs Recording FIRM panel revision dates and reasons

FIRM Database Domain Tables Technical Reference Update

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Domain Tables TR• Added new domain to D_Obscured table:

“Acceptable Confidence Area” is the new text domain acceptable in the Confident Type field of the Topographic data table

• Added new domains to D_Zone_Subtype for use in S_Fld_Haz_Ar for combined riverine and coastal areas “Coastal Floodplain” “Combined Riverine and Coastal Floodplain” “Riverine Floodplain in Coastal Area” “Riverine Floodway in Combined Riverine and Coastal Zone” “0.2 Pct Annual Chance Flood Hazard in Coastal Zone” “0.2 Pct Annual Chance Flood Hazard in Combined Riverine and Coastal Zone”

• As noted in the TR: “These subtypes are only used in coastal areas to specify riverine or coastal flooding. More information on these zones can be found in the FIRM Database Guidance document.”

DVT Guidance Update

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DVT Guidance• Added four new checks as part of April, 2015 release

2.8.8.2 – Cross-section and BFE elevations should be greater than zero and non-nullo Negative elevation areas will require DVT bypasseso Nulls must be approved by Region project manager

2.8.8.3 – Cross-sections should have equal or higher elevations than neighboring cross-sections with lower stream station IDs

o Only a warning, jumps in station IDs due to modeled reaches will return false positives

2.8.2.21 – Static BFEs in S_Fld_Haz_Ar should have the 1% elevations also captured in L_Summary_Elev

o Exports to Summary of Non-Coastal Stillwater Elevations table in FIS reporto Only a warning, there are exceptions and DVT logic is currently being refined

2.7.2.13 – Newly mapped Profiles Baselines should have polyline Z values populatedo Dependent on version IDs

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DVT Guidance• Revised three checks as part of April, 2015 release to eliminate discovered defects

Corrected issues with 2.9.1.3 and 2.9.1.9 to eliminate false positives when features are not available for QC

Removed portion of 2.9.1.12 that was checking for nodes on S_Hydro_Reach lines

• Added a section on common DVT bypass reasons: 2.5.1.6 must be bypassed if there is an ANI in S_Pol_Ar since it will not appear in L_Comm_Info 2.8.6.3 must be bypassed if there is a community included with a county FIPS code other than the primary county

FIPS of the project 2.9.1.8 must be bypassed if there are unavoidable cross-section and BFE overlaps in crowded areas 2.10.1.10 must be bypassed if a full S_Pol_Ar is submitted for a PMR and therefore the political area layer extends

outside of the flood hazard area layer

• Added a section on combined coastal and riverine zone sub-types While the zone subtypes are listed in the Domain Tables Technical Reference the use

should be very minimal and will necessitate a DVT bypass

NFHL Guidance Update

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NFHL Guidance• Document is primarily for use by PTS rFHL teams

• Added guidance to explain projection conversions by rFHL teams to meet the NFHL GCS requirement

• Added guidance to the maintenance section for the rFHL teams the append the DFIRM ID for the dataset to primary and foreign key fields in order to make the values unique once incorporation into the national layer.

• Added guidance to explain LOMR for FIS and when they should be incorporated into the NFHL

E.g. edit to floodway data tables, profiles, discharges, etc

• Removed section on error types and the priority for resolution by rFHL teams NFHL issue resolution protocol is still in discussion and many data errors should not be resolved with due process

• Added row to “Manual Conversion Needs” table to provide guidance on including LiMWA features submitted in the 2003 schema

“SHOWN_FIRM” field must be manually populated after conversion to NFHL schema based on the appearance on non-appearance of the feature on the FIRM panel(s)

Physical Map Revision (PMR) Guidance Document

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)Revise a portion of a communities flood hazards rather than a full countywide update to the regulatory products. Guidance document created from the draft version of PM55.

Project Planning creating the Mapping Activity Statement (MAS) or Scope of Work (SOW)• Defining the PMR footprint

Standard ID # 551 Boundary of the FIRM panels affected

• FIS and FIRM Database Format – Scenarios Section 4.0 Mapping Partner and Regional Project Officer decide best fit scenario Affects future submission guidelines and requirements, and spatial extent of the PMR FIRM database

• Base Map Political Area if updated should be updated for the entire county or community based study All other base map data only need to be updated within the PMR footprint Updates to local data should be acquired from the local source if possible Degrading base map data should be avoided

PMR Project Planning

PMR Study Production

NFHL Processing

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Study Production• Flood Study Engineering

Includes all hydrologic and hydraulic engineering performed within the PMR study area• Floodplain Delineation

May be necessary to revise the PMR footprint in cases were the revised flood hazard data extends beyond or falls short of the FIRM panels identified during project planning phase

• Receive National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) Extract and Merge with PMR footprint The NFHL shall be the initial digital flood hazard mapping source of the PMR, Standard ID # 363 May be acquired as early as the Flood Study Engineering stage of the PMR Ensures that the most recent flood hazard dataset, including LOMRs, is being used

• Data Development and Database Require the same data validation, integrity and topology as countywide FIRM production studies Node to Node edgematch between flood hazard boundaries and other regulatory data (BFEs, XS)

from the PMR and the NFHL BFEs may be required in areas due to BFEs on adjacent panels even if not needed due to XS

elevations Start IDs should be aligned as well to the existing data in the NFHL Source information for data pulled from the NFHL should retain original source citation information (do

not source the NFHL) Edgematching issues of regulatory data at the PMR boundary could result in a NTU to correct the

data after effective

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Study Production (continued)• FIRM Database for areas outside of the PMR study area

PMR study area is the updated by the studied streams, PMR footprint may contain data not being updated by PMR, but is required to be submitted. S_Submittal_Info polygon for the floodplain mapping task should be used to define the area of revised streams.

S_FIRM_Pan should be submitted in it’s entirety regardless of PMR footprint Profile baselines within the PMR study area should contain Z and M values, may extend outside of the

PMR footprint to keep the Z and M values intact Profile baselines outside of the PMR study area but within the PMR footprint can retain the null values

in the 3D line from the NFHL and are not required to be updated• Version ID

www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-flood-hazard-mapping/guidelines-standards-maintenance. This is the version number that will be on the FIRM panel, FIS Report and for records being updated in the FIRM Database.

Features outside of the PMR study area do not need to have their Version ID updated, unless the region has opted to have the database completely updated

• Revised FIS, FIRM Panels and Preliminary Distribution Panels must be prepared using the latest standards in the FIRM Panel Technical Reference No changes to the representation of BFE, XS or other features outside of the PMR study area are

required Revised FIRM panels should get a new effective date and have its suffix advanced to the next letter,

including not printed panels

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Study Production (continued)• Revised FIS, FIRM Panels and Preliminary Distribution (continued)

Metadata should be submitted in countywide format at all times. It should include all effective source information for data that has not been entirely replaced by the PMR.

EADETCIT line in the overview section will need to list only the tables being submitted for the PMR for the Data Validation Tool (DVT)

• Letter of Final Determination (LFD) Mapping Partner is responsible for incorporating LOMRs within the PMR footprint until 60 days prior to

LFD LOMRs published less than 60 days before LFD but prior to the PMRs effective date will be distributed

by FEMA with a note for reissuance with the new effective date

NFHL Processing Regional Flood Hazard Layer (rFHL) designee will download finalized database and check for

compliance to all standards and incorporate data into the rFHL and submit to Customer Data Services for loading into the NFHL

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)Sample LOMR Scenarios

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Scenarios

Scenario  Existing NFHL Digital Data

Existing FIS Report

Update Scope Determination

Revised FIRM Database Requirements

Revised FIS Report Requirements

Revised FIRM Panel Requirements

1 August 2013 or newer Schema

2003 Appendix J Format

Do not update FIS Report to FIS Report Technical

Reference Format

FIRM Database Technical Reference

Remains in 2003 Appendix J Format

Create using FIRM Panel Technical Reference

2 August 2013 or newer Schema

2003 Appendix J Format

Update FIS Report to FIS Report Technical

Reference

Entire Database should be updated to FIRM Database

Technical Reference schema regardless of PMR scope

Entire FIS Report updated to FIS Report Technical Reference

Create using FIRM Panel Technical Reference

3 August 2013 or newer Schema

Procedure Memorandum

66 or FIS Report Technical Reference

Format

No Format Update Requirements

FIRM Database Technical Reference

FIS Report Technical Reference

Create using FIRM Panel Technical Reference

4 No NFHL Data 2003 Appendix J Format

Do Not Update FIS Report to FIS Report Technical

Reference Format

FIRM Database Technical Reference

Remains in 2003 Appendix J Format

Create using FIRM Panel Technical Reference

5 No NFHL Data 2003 Appendix J Format

Update FIS Report to FIS Report Technical

Reference Format

FIRM Database Technical Reference

Entire FIS Report updated to FIS Report Technical Reference

format

Create using FIRM Panel Technical Reference

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Scenarios (current specification vs 2003 specification)

FEMA regions should request that Mapping Partners deliver in the current specifications if the projects was not started by June 2013, or is scoped to produce 2011 and has not reached the Develop FIRM Database task, or if data has already gone preliminary since revisions from 2011 to current specifications are minor and detailed in the NFHL Guidance document.

• PMR Scenario 1 - NFHL in FIRM Database Technical Reference schema and the effective FIS and FIRM panels are in the 2003 Appendix J and K format. PMR scope does not include update to FIS Report due to small PMR footprint or prioritizing cost. FIRM Database in FIRM Database Technical Reference format. FIS only tables for fields will be populated with pseudo null values Submit data covering PMR footprint only, minus S_FIRM_Pan and updated S_Pol_Ar FIS Report remains in 2003 Appendix J format, including any revisions and incorporate any previous

section 10.0 revisions Standard ID # 501, add Notes to Users and FIRM legend to the FIS report If the FIRM Index is not being updates the Map Repositories table and Listing of NFIP Jurisdictions

must be included Revised FIRM panels created in the FIRM Panel Technical Reference specifications FIRM Index may remain in the 2003 Appendix K format

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Scenarios (continued)

• PMR Scenario 2 - - NFHL in FIRM Database Technical Reference schema and the effective FIS and FIRM panels are in the 2003 Appendix J and K format. PMR scope includes updating the FIRM Database and FIS Report to the FIRM Database Technical Reference schema and the FIS Report Technical Reference. Data for the FIS Report tables outside of the PMR footprint may be incomplete if the tables were not

part of the effective FIS. LOMR that cross the PMR footprint will be included in the entirety in the FIS report. Note will need to be added under Table 27 to explain this.

No data outside of the PMR footprint are modified from the effective data No LOMRs outside of the PMR footprint are shown as incorporated in the SOMAs, LOMR data should

be sewn into the FIRM database, but attributed as effective Submit countywide FIRM Database LOMRs entirely outside of the PMR footprint will not be included in the FIS report Community Map History table FIRM Revision Date is not updated for communities outside of the PMR

footprint Listing of NFIP Jurisdictions table only show updates to areas outside of the PMR footprint if

S_Pol_Ar was updated and will be reflected on the FIRM Index FIRM Panels created using the FIRM Panel Technical Reference specifications FIRM Index is not included in the FIS report

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Scenarios (continued)

• PMR Scenario 3 - NFHL in FIRM Database Technical Reference schema and the effective FIS is in PM 66 or the FIS Report Technical Reference format. Update FIRM Database with PMR revisions and only submit data for the PMR footprint. Update FIS report with PMR revisions in the FIS Report Technical Reference format FIRM panels created with the FIRM Panel Technical Reference

• PMR Scenario 4 – no data available from the NFHL and the effective FIS and FIRM Panels are in the 2003 Appendix J and K format. PMR scope does not include updating the FIS report. Note: FEMAs preference is to use Scenario 5 and process this as a countywide study rather than a PMR. FIRM Database delivered in FIRM Database Technical Reference schema FIRM Database tables or fields that support FIS tables will be populated with pseudo null values FIS Report remains in 2003 Appendix J format. Follow FIS procedures for Scenario 1 FIRM Index may remain in 2003 Appendix K format

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Physical Map Revision (PMR)PMR Scenarios (continued)

• PMR Scenario 5 – no data available from the NFHL and the effective FIS and FIRM Panels are in the 2003 Appendix J and K format. PMR scope includes updating the FIS report. FIRM Database delivered in FIRM Database Technical Reference schema FIRM Database tables or fields that support FIS tables will be populated with pseudo null values Typically submitted in countywide, SOW may be for partial countywide FIS Report converted to FIS Report Technical Reference format FIS tables will be populated for areas outside of the PMR footprint only for data in existing FIS Report Do not build LOMR data into the FIS report for LOMRs outside of the LOMR footprint see Scenario 2 Most Recent FIRM Date and FIRM Revision Date is not updated for communities outside of the PMR

footprint Listing of NFIP Jurisdictions table only show updates to areas outside of the PMR footprint if

S_Pol_Ar was updated and will be reflected on the FIRM Index FIS Report/FIRM Index should be delivered to every community in the county regardless of PMR

footprint FIRM Panels created with FIRM Panel Technical Reference specifications FIRM Index now included in FIS report

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