Floodplain Management
Floodplain management is a community-based effort to prevent or reduce the risk of flooding, resulting in a more resilient community. Multiple groups with a stake in protecting their communities from flooding carry out floodplain management functions including zoning, building codes, enforcement, education and other tasks. While FEMA has minimum floodplain management standards for communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), adopting higher standards will lead to safer, stronger, more resilient communities.
www.fema.gov/floodplain-management
Kentucky Floodplain Management
Kentucky Flooding Facts
- Flooding can occur almost anywhere.
- The speed and duration of flooding can vary significantly.
- Kentucky experiences flash floods, stormwater, backwater, and riverine flooding.
- Saturated conditions prior to rain events may exacerbate flooding.
- Flooding may cause fatalities or injuries, disrupt or destroy infrastructure (roads, bridges, culverts, water, wastewater, gas, electric), disrupt drinking water supplies, and cause erosion and landslides.
Due to a varied topography and nearly 90,000 miles of rivers and streams, flooding is Kentucky’s most costly natural hazard.
Flooding in KY Fact Sheet
Floodplain Management in Kentucky
Flooding is Kentucky’s most costly natural disaster, both in terms of financial loss and the anguish suffered by victims. People cannot control the weather. We can, however, limit the damages that result from floods through proper floodplain management.
The KY Division of Water (DOW) is designated by KRS 151 as the state coordinating agency for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). As the coordinating agency, DOW assists local governments and state agencies in answering all questions concerning the program.
The DOW Floodplain Management Section has the primary responsibility for the approval or denial of proposed development and other activities in the floodplain of all streams in the Commonwealth. Typical activities permitted are bridges, culverts, residential and commercial buildings, placement of fill, stream alterations or relocations, and water and wastewater treatment plants and other utility structures. Permits are issued for proposed actions in floodplains that meet all state floodplain statutes, regulations and standards. Additionally, the Floodplain Management section ensures that permitted development in floodplains complies with applicable requirements and limitations. The section works closely with the Division’s Field Office Branch to ensure development in floodplains is conducted in as safe a manner as possible and minimizes future flooding impacts.
Kentucky Floodplain Coordinator: Alex VanPelt
Alex is originally from southern Illinois, where he grew up in a floodplain along the Mississippi River in a small, rural town called Gorham. He has a Bachelor of Science in Forestry and a Master of Science in Geography and Environmental Science, both from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His Master’s thesis was about town relocation decisions in response to flood hazards. Alex’s experience includes working approximately six months for FEMA on a presidential disaster declaration in Aurora, IL, which is a western suburb of Chicago. He then took a job with the KY Division of Mine Permits as a permit reviewer for two years before coming to DOW as NFIP Coordinator.
Alex VanPelt, KY Floodplain Coordinator, Water Resources Branch, Division of Water
Direct: (502) 782-7120; DOW: (502) 564-3410
Email: alex.vanpelt@ky.gov.
NFIP-101.pdf
Kentucky Regulations
Our nation’s floodplains are regulated by federal, state, and local regulations. The Commonwealth of Kentucky regulates construction and development in floodplains so that buildings will be protected from flood damage. State floodplain development requirements are outlined in 401 KAR 4:060 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations (KAR). The DOW administrative regulations are contained in Title 401 Chapters 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations (KAR).
Floodplain permits are issued by the Cabinet pursuant to 401 KAR 4:060 for any development in areas along or across a stream. Link to 401 KAR 4:060. Stream construction Criteria -Title 401 Regulations.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky has taken several steps to reduce the hazard of flooding. Chapter 151 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes is the state statute that addresses the development of floodplain areas.
Floodplain Management Ordinance
All communities participating in the NFIP have a local Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance.
Local Ordinance includes:
- Authorization & Purpose
- Definitions
- Applicable Provisions
- Administrator’s duties
- Development Requirements
NFIP Floodplain Management Requirements: A Study Guide and Desk Reference for Local Officials
KDOW's Fact Sheet Floodplain Management
KY Local Officials Roles & Responsibilities
Kentucky’s Typical Permits at a Glance
The regulations require a floodplain permit before you start any repair, renovation, development, improvement, or construction. Development is defined as any changes to the property, including filling, regrading, and excavating.
The Division of Compliance Assistance (DCA) has published a document that covers the major permits and authorizations typically issued by the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP). The At-a-Glance document provides information on understanding permits and the most common permits and authorizations issued. Click Typical Permits at a Glance [EW7] to read or download the document.
KY Floodplain Permits
Guide for Working in Kentucky Stream Channels & Wetlands
Permits are required for digging, trenching, dumping, dredging, clearing, and operating equipment in or near a creek, wetland, lake, or near a sinkhole, because:
• Dumping material into a stream or changing the banks or channel can cause flooding.
• Changing the flow of a stream can cause rapid erosion of downstream property.
• Digging or operating equipment in a stream or wetland causes sediment pollution.
• Muddy water caused by in-stream work is harmful to fish and other creek life.
• Water treatment plant filters are clogged more often by high-sediment water.
• There can be possible adverse impacts on adjacent properties or infrastructure.
That’s why working in the channel – within the banks – or in a wetland or sinkhole drain requires one or more permits.
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issues permits for the placement of dredged or fill material into the “waters of the United States,” which include rivers, lakes, wetlands, streams, sinkholes, and their tributaries. The DOW is also involved in this process because the agency has to certify that the USACE permit will not harm water quality. DOW also issues permits for construction within the floodplain or stream and for all projects that disturb one acre or more. Local agencies also require permits for land disturbance activities.
Link to the comprehensive 64-page guide – Guide for Working in Kentucky Stream Channels and Wetlands.
KY Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Guide
The Dangers of Dredging publication.
Kentucky Flood Preparedness Quick Guide
DOW developed a two-page guide that covers several aspects of flooding. The Guide includes what local officials and citizens should do before, during, and after a flooding event, as well as topics such as how to find your flood risk, when permits are needed, mitigation information, substantial damage information, and more.
Download the Kentucky Flood Preparedness Quick Guide and share it throughout your community.
Property Owner Flood Recovery Resources.pdf
Kentucky Floodplain Administrator’s Handbook
The Division of Water published the KY Floodplain Admin Handbook to inform floodplain administrators and local officials about the NFIP and permit requirements and to provide sample forms. The Handbook outlines the floodplain management process, floodplain regulations, permit procedures, and flood mapping.
KY Floodplain Compliance Guide
Kentucky Floodplain Guides
The KY Division of Water has two helpful guides for local floodplain managers: Compliance and Enforcement and the Commonly Encountered Permits List . These guides are intended to help local floodplain managers enforce their community’s floodplain ordinances.
Floodplain Definitions
Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)
The land area covered by the floodwaters of the base flood is the SFHA on NFIP maps. The SFHA is the area where the NFIP’s floodplain management regulations must be enforced and the area where the mandatory purchase of flood insurance applies. The SFHA includes Zones A, AO, AH, A1-30, AE, A99, AR, AR/A1-30, AR/AE, AR/AO, AR/AH, or AR/A.
Floodway
A “Regulatory Floodway” refers to the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height. Communities must regulate development in these floodways to ensure that there are no increases in upstream flood elevations. For streams and other watercourses where FEMA has provided Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) but no floodway has been designated, the community must review floodplain development on a case-by-case basis to ensure that increases in water surface elevations do not occur or identify the need to adopt a floodway if adequate information is available.
Compensatory Storage
The NFIP floodway standard in 44 CFR 60.3 (d) restricts new development from obstructing the flow of water and increasing flood heights. However, this provision does not address the need to maintain flood storage. Especially in flat areas, the floodplain provides a valuable function by storing floodwaters. When fill or buildings are placed in the flood fringe, the flood storage areas are lost, and flood heights will go up because there is less room for the floodwaters. This is particularly important in smaller watersheds which respond sooner to changes in the topography. One approach that may be used to address this issue is to require compensatory storage to offset any loss of flood storage capacity. Some communities adopt more restrictive standards that regulate the amount of fill or buildings that can displace floodwater in the flood fringe. Community Rating System (CRS) credits are available for communities that adopt compensatory storage requirements.
Encroachment
Encroachments are activities or construction within the floodway including fill, new construction, substantial improvements, and other development. These activities are prohibited within the adopted regulatory floodway unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analyses that the proposed encroachment would not result in any increase in flood levels. The community is responsible to review and maintain record of the documentation demonstrating that any permitted floodway encroachment meets NFIP requirements. A “no-rise certification” for floodways may be used to document the analyses.
Fill
Earthen fill is sometimes placed in an SFHA to reduce flood risk to the filled area. The placement of fill is considered development and will require a permit under applicable Federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and regulations. Fill is prohibited within the floodway unless it has been demonstrated that it will not result in any increase in flood levels. Some communities limit the use of fill in the flood fringe to protect storage capacity or require compensatory storage.
Higher Standard
FEMA has established minimum floodplain management requirements for communities participating in the NFIP. Communities must also enforce any more restrictive state requirements. Any community may exceed the minimum standards by adopting more comprehensive floodplain management regulations. In some instances, community officials may have access to information or knowledge of conditions that require, particularly for human safety, higher standards than the minimum NFIP criteria. Any floodplain management regulations adopted by a state or community which are more restrictive than the criteria set forth in the NFIP regulations are encouraged and shall take precedence. Communities that exceed the minimum requirements of the NFIP may be eligible to participate in the Community Rating System (CRS).