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CHANGE
By Doug Wagner, Division of Water
Change, in the world we live in today change seems to be our only constant. As I sit in my home office writing this, I am repeatedly reminded of the opening statement. Most of us have seen many changes in our daily lives over the past few weeks. With the effects and directives triggered by COVID-19, many of us find ourselves working from home, working reduced hours, or not working.
Stores are in short supply of goods and yet other businesses have closed or altered operating schedules and are limiting public contact. When you do leave your home for essentials, you find that traffic is extraordinarily light compared to what it was just a short while ago. You also find fewer people out and notice most are taking extra precautions in obtaining those essential supplies.
The Division of Water is not exempt from these changes, as our routines have been very fluid over the last few weeks. We went from holding conferences and other meetings in person to having virtual meetings to cancelling them in the matters of days, and sometimes hours or minutes. We were directed to vacate the office at the end of the day on March 17 and are now working from home. Although the transition has not arrived without some difficulties, we are still here to assist local communities and residents. Because our phone capabilities are somewhat limited, please contact us by email so we can more promptly answer your questions.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and floodplain management is no different when it comes to change. Over the last few months we have seen updated versions of Technical Bulletins (TB) 0, 1, 4, 5, & 8, the Elevation Certificate (EC), and the Floodproofing Certificate for non-residential structures. Technical bulletins 4 and 8 were published in June 2019, TB 0 in July 2019, TB 1 and 5 in March 2020, and the EC and Floodproofing Certificate in February 2020. A more recent change with the NFIP was granting of a temporary extension of the payment grace period for policy holders, a shift we were made aware of on March 27. You can find the technical bulletins at FEMA Technical Bulletins.
The EC only had the changes of adding a dropdown selection method for the building diagram in section A of the form, and the expiration date was changed to Nov. 30, 2022. For NFIP purposes, we have been informed that they are no longer accepting the old version of the form, which they had done in the past. The Floodproofing Certificate only changed the expiration date on the form to Nov. 30, 2022.
Keep an eye out for future issues of Waterlines. In them we will highlight what the updates are for each of the bulletins.
THANK YOU
Thanks to those contributing to this issue: Ryan Mueller, George Bowman, Anita Nance, Darren Pearson, Wanda Gaines, Jerod Evans, Marty Benson, Don Kaczorowski, and Ed Reynolds.
Editor – Doug Wagner
The work that provides the basis for this newsletter was supported by funding under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in the publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government.
Waterlines is produced biannually as a public service by the DNR Division of Water.
Waterlines is available on the web at dnr.IN.gov/water.
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