Disaster Information

Our office assists Louisiana community officials with guidance on all aspects of the NFIP and compliance to post-disaster NFIP rules and regulations. To properly prepare for your community’s post-disaster NFIP responsibilities, you should have a Substantial Damage/Substantial Improvement Standard Operating Procedure that identifies many of the “who,” “what,” “where,” “when” and “how,” and “why,” questions related to your community’s floodplain damage assessments. A template can be found below. Some communities have memorandums of agreement (MOAs) with other local government officials to assist your community with Substantial Damage assessments, or have private sector contracts in plac​e for Substantial Damage assessments in the event of a disaster (similar to a debris removal contract). Ideally, a community would have an inventory of structures that are in the Special Flood Hazard Area or community regulated floodplain and not in compliance with your most current, locally adopted floodplain standards (including base flood elevation plus any locally adopted freeboard) that would be subject to Substantial Damage and Substantial Improvement determinations.

Under the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) of 2018, Section 1206, if the disaster is authorized for assistance under a major disaster declaration with FEMA Public Assistance (PA) permanent work, then th​e cost for the post-disaster floodplain permitting, floodplain damage inspections and substantial damage determination and appeals process may be reimbursed. This would be done through the FEMA PA process. You would want to find out who handles the PA process in your organization and make sure they are aware these costs could possibly be reimbursable.

Below you will also find the Substantial Damage Assessment Package which includes step by step guidance on completing the substantial damage requirements. If a community needs assistance with the substantial damage process or training on how to conduct assessments, they would ask their Parish Emergency Manager to submit a request through WebEOC to the State Floodplain Manager (NFIP Coordinator) in DOTD for assistance.

Substantial Damage Toolkit

• Louisiana Substantial Damage Assessment Package 
• Substantial Damage Estimator Tool​
• SDE 3.0 File for Download​
• Substantial Damage Estimator Training Modules​
  
• Substantial Improvement/Substantial Damage Desk Reference
• Answers to Questions About Substantially Improved/ Substantially Damaged Buildings​
• Template to Create SI/SD SOP​
• LFMA Flood Recovery Guidance​
• How Should Your Permit Files Look After a Disaster?​​
• Get a Permit Video Public Service Announcement​