Updated March 8, 2024

MANAGING FLOODPLAIN DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM, MARCH 4 - 7, 2024

The Natural Resource Division of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, with the assistance of the Arkansas Floodplain Management Association (AFMA) and the support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sponsored Managing Floodplain Development through the National Flood Insurance Program, a four (4) day course on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and floodplain management. The course was held in Little Rock March 4-7, 2024, providing local community officials with knowledge and skills to manage development within flood-prone areas.

ANRD offers this training annually. The course is FREE, however, participants must furnish their own lodging, meals and transportation. Registration information for the 2025 workshop will be posted in January of next year. If you have any questions, please contact Toni Brown at 501-682-3982 or toni.brown@agricultue.arkansas.gov.

IN PERSON TRAINING WORKSHOPS

ANRD will begin offering one-day Floodplain Administrator accreditation classes beginning late January 2023. The target audience for these workshops are local floodplain administrators, emergency management officers, community chief executive officers, county judges, and floodplain management consultants.

Approximately 10 workshops will be offered across the state. The workshops will provide a general overview of floodplain management and community responsibilities as participants in the NFIP with some workshops including advanced special topics targeting more experienced floodplain management professionals. Specific topics will include compliance and enforcement, substantial damage estimation, base level engineering, and mitigation strategies. The special topic for 2023 is updated flood risk data and it will be included in each face-to-face workshop.

2023-2024 ONLINE TRAINING OPTIONS

Floodplain administrators are encouraged to utilize online training opportunities provided by the ANRD Floodplain Management Section, AFMA, FEMA, and other organizations. ANRD will send out periodic emails to all floodplain administrators detailing upcoming opportunities. Current opportunities for online training include the ANRD Virtual Floodplain Administrator training sessions, FEMA Independent Study Courses, STARR Webinar series, FEMA Region 6 Monthly Webinars, and FEMA Region 6 Virtual Brown Bag Series. Details regarding each option are listed below.

ANRD Virtual Floodplain Administrator Training

Recorded training sessions from 2020 and 2021 are available for viewing. For access to these trainings, please click HERE. For questions about these trainings, please contact Toni Brown, Training Coordinator, at 501-682-3982 or toni.brown@agriculture.arkansas.gov.

FEMA Independent Study (IS) Courses

FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) offers a number of online, distance learning courses. These Independent Study (IS) courses are designed for people with emergency management responsibilities, allowing them to obtain credit from a remote workspace environment. All IS courses are offered free-of-charge to those who qualify for enrollment. Below, NRD has compiled a list of active IS courses that Floodplain Administrators, Emergency Managers, and CRS Coordinators may find beneficial. These course may be used to obtain continuing education credits for floodplain administrator accreditation and/or CFM training requirements. Click HERE to start an IS Course.

Course ID	Course Title
IS-162	Hazard Mitigation Floodplain Management in Disaster Operations
IS-212.b	Introduction to Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance
IS-242.b	Effective Communication
IS-273	How to Read a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)
IS-274	How to use a Flood Insurance Study (FIS)
IS-279.a	Introduction to Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Buildings
IS-285	Substantial Damage Estimation for Floodplain Administrators
IS-322	Flood Mitigation Basics for Mitigation Staff
IS-727	Floodplain Management and Protection of Wetlands
IS-1103.a	Elevation Certificate for Surveyors
IS-1105.a	EC Made Easy: Elevation Certificate Overview
IS-1106.a	FEMA Mapping Changes
IS-1120	Letters of Map Revision

STARR Webinar Series

The Community Rating System [CRS] Webinar Series provides both live and on-demand training to communities that are not yet participating in the Community Rating System, local government staff who are new to the CRS, and those with experience in the program. The series includes basic introductory sessions and more advanced topics, most averaging about an hour in length. Click HERE to view the list of upcoming webinars and pre-recorded sessions.

FEMA Region 6 Floodplain Management Monthly Webinars

FEMA Region 6 offers floodplain management virtual training to help communities become more flood-resilient and provide floodplain administrators with the knowledge they need to protect their homes, businesses, and neighborhoods. These monthly webinars are presented by the FEMA Region 6 Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch.

Register for upcoming webinars HERE. Past webinars can be viewed HERE.

FEMA Region 6 Virtual Brown Bag Series

The Virtual Brown Bag lunch time trainings are offered by FEMA Region 6 Risk Analysis Branch. This monthly series of lunchtime seminars help communities become more resilient by providing training on the use of flood risk data for future development, emergency planning, and risk communications.

"Virtual Brown Bag" sessions include:

• Using Base Level Engineering (BLE) at the Local Level [Specific seminars available for Local Officials, Local Planners, Engineering Practitioners, Floodplain Administrators, and Insurance Stakeholders];
• Live tutorials on pairing local data with FEMA data to develop flood risk assessments;
• Letters of Map Change (LOMCs) for Local Officials;
• Base Level Engineering (BLE) and the Community Rating System (CRS); and
• Using the Estimated Base Flood Elevation (BFE) Viewer.

Click HERE to schedule your attendance today.

If you need assistance or have any questions, please contact Toni Brown, Training Coordinator, at 501-682-3982 or toni.brown@arkansas.gov.