What FEMA's Levee Review Under 44 CFR 65.10 Certifies

Under 44 CFR 65.10, “Mapping of areas protected by levee systems,” FEMA can show a levee system as providing flood protection on a Flood Insurance Rate Map only after specific engineering conditions are documented and submitted. The regulation states in its own text that this review “will be for the sole purpose of establishing appropriate risk zone determinations for NFIP maps and shall not constitute a determination by FEMA as to how a structure or system will perform in a flood event” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65).

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• The regulation’s own stated purpose is narrow: it exists to set NFIP map risk zones, not to certify real-world flood performance.
• Riverine levees must show a minimum freeboard of three feet above the base flood water-surface level, with a two-foot floor that cannot be waived (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65).
• Supporting engineering data and as-built plans must be certified by a registered professional engineer.
• Any closure or drainage mechanism on the levee must operate under an officially adopted operation manual.
• The section’s design standards cite two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manuals and carry a 1986 Federal Register credit line.

Scope of the FEMA review

44 CFR 65.10 states plainly that “the FEMA review will be for the sole purpose of establishing appropriate risk zone determinations for NFIP maps and shall not constitute a determination by FEMA as to how a structure or system will perform in a flood event” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65). That sentence is the regulation’s own scope statement: the review is a mapping exercise, not an engineering guarantee or a performance forecast.

The freeboard threshold

To be shown on a map as providing base flood protection, the regulation requires that “riverine levees must provide a minimum freeboard of three feet above the water-surface level of the base flood” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65). The regulation sets a hard floor beneath that standard: “under no circumstances will freeboard of less than two feet be accepted” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65).

Engineering certification requirement

The supporting data and as-built plans behind a levee system’s map recognition must be “certified by a registered professional engineer” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65). This certification requirement attaches to the engineering documentation submitted for the mapping determination.

Closure and drainage structures

Where a levee system includes closure devices or drainage structures, the regulation requires that they operate under “an officially adopted operation manual” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65).

Design-standard references and credit line

For design and construction standards, the section cites “EM 1110-2-1913, Chapter 6, Section II (Design and Construction of Levees)” and a second U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manual on soil mechanics design and settlement analysis (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65). The section’s Federal Register credit line reads “[51 FR 30316, Aug. 25, 1986]” (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65).

Source links

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-44/part-65