Recognizing that these situations do occur, FEMA established administrative procedures to change the designation for these properties on the FIRM. Requesting a Change to the Flood Insurance Rate Map Because of the limited extent of the elevated area and the limitations of the map scale, it may not have been possible for FEMA to show this area as being outside the SFHA and so these areas have been incorrectly included in the SFHA on the FIRM. This construction may have taken place during the time the engineering study was being performed or subsequent to that study. Such cases are referred to as 'inadvertent inclusions.'įor other small areas, earthen fill may have been placed during construction, thereby elevating a small area within the SFHA to an elevation that is at or above the BFE. This elevation is most commonly referred to as the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). However, because of limitations of scale or topographic definition of the source maps used to prepare a FIRM, small areas may be inadvertently shown within a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) even though the property is on natural ground and is at or above the elevation of the one-percent-annual-chance flood. FEMA uses the most accurate flood hazard information available and applies rigorous standards in developing Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs).

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