Renton, Wash., Issues Public Comment on FEMA Notice

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 -- The city of Renton, Washington, has issued a public comment on the Federal Emergency Management Agency notice entitled "Request for Information: National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System". The comment was posted on Sept. 23, 2021:

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What are the strengths of the current CRS program? What components of the program are currently working well and why?

The biggest strengths of the program are the outreach/education provided to homes in the regulatory floodplain and the discounts it provides which are proving to be an incentive to purchasing flood insurance.

The Local Emergency Planning Committee and Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee are currently working well to meet on an annual basis during the five-year cycle to monitor and evaluate mitigation projects and to keep the plan current.

How can the CRS program be modified, expanded, or streamlined to best incentivize participation by communities and flood insurance policyholders to become more resilient and lower their vulnerability to flood risk?

Credit for expanded training of field response crew

The program can be modified by considering the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training for educating the volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact the City and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.

The CRS program provides credits for flood risk reduction activities. Are there flood risk reduction activities that are not currently given credit within the CRS program that should be? If so, what are they and why? Are there flood risk reduction activities that are currently given excessive credit within the CRS program than they should be given? If so, what are they and why? Should the CRS program provide a list of optional risk reduction activities for communities to choose from or a list of required risk reduction activities, and why?

Structural Stormwater Controls required by the NPDES permit

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The notice can be viewed at: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FEMA-2021-0021-0001

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