The Harris County Flood Control District has been awarded nearly $100,000 to continue as a select partner with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in revising floodplain maps related to new development. The FEMA grant will fund the Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) Review Partners Program. A LOMR is FEMA's official modification to a Flood Insurance Rate Map or the Flood Insurance Study. LOMRs can change the regulatory floodway, the base flood elevations, or the flood zones on the effective map. In this partnership, FEMA delegates to the Flood Control District the technical review of LOMR and Conditional LOMR requests in Harris County.
“This grant enables the Flood Control District to continue to partner with FEMA to work together in maintaining up-to-date flood hazard maps and other flood hazard information,” said Alan Black, Harris County Flood Control District Interim Executive Director.
“Through the LOMR Review Partnership, the Flood Control District is able to apply local knowledge of area issues and projects, meet with requestors, facilitate the coordination of adjacent active cases, and reduce overall review time,” he continued.
This program delegates select agencies across the country the responsibility of performing the technical review function for Letters of Map Revision (LOMRs) and Conditional Letters of Map Revision (CLOMRs) in their local community on behalf of FEMA. To date, there are only six other agencies across the country who have been selected to participate. The Flood Control District officially began receiving these submittals for Harris County in 2010.