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Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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HMA Webinar (1-25-2018): Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Transcript
Kirsten Roth: Thank you for joining the webinar. John, if you want to go
ahead and open up that would be great.
John Ingargiola: Good afternoon, everyone. I am John Ingargiola. I’m lead
physical scientist with the Building Science Branch in the Risk
Management Division of FIMA. Thank you for joining today's webinar,
Building Codes for Mitigation: Using ASCE-24. We hope you find today's
information very valuable.
This webinar is extremely timely and relevant. We are all reminded of the
devastating impacts from the last hurricane season. Devastating wind and
flood damage and loss were experienced as well as other monumental floods
and wildfire impacts across the US.
In 2016, with FEMA’s building codes directive, FEMA reaffirmed its
commitment to using minimum hazard-resistant codes and standards in its
programs including public assistance and hazard mitigation assistance.
The good news is these codes, including ASCE-24, are widely used already
across the country. So, over the next hour our goal is to provide
individuals and businesses with the information about the American
Society Civil Engineers, ASCE-24 Building Codes for Mitigation.
Especially as they relate to developing and implementing mitigation
projects such as elevation, floodproofing, and mitigation reconstruction.
As a reminder, participants who would find value in this webinar include
floodplain administrators, city officials, building code officials,
insurance adjusters, and others who have an interest in understanding and
applying ASCE-24 requirements.
I would like to thank the presenter, Adam Reeder, as a consultant for
FEMA Building Sciences on wind and flood mitigation for his time and for
sharing his expertise, and the resources with us today.
Adam was an author of FEMA guidance for applying ASCE-24. So, on the left
side you will see instructions to submit questions. So please submit them
throughout the presentation via private chat, through 1-FEMA-questions at
any time. We will do our best to answer as many as we can during the
question and an answer session.
Kirsten Roth: Thank you, John.
John Ingargiola: There is a variety of resources.
You’re welcome.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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Kirsten Roth: And on the right-hand side you will see file share, and
right there you are actually able to download a copy of today's
presentation. It is a 508-compliant copy of the presentation. So all you
have to do is go over to the file share pod, click on that and hit
download files and a copy of the presentation will be available to you.
We will have a few short poll questions at the end of the webinar and we
really appreciate your feedback. It helps us make future webinars even
better, so we would ask you to take a moment at the end to answer our
polling questions.
So, without further ado, I would like to turn it over to our presenter
Adam, thank you. >> Adam, are you on mute?
Adam Reeder: That was good. Thank you, Kristen. So today we’re going to
go through why ASCE-24 is required, what is ASCE-24, a little bit about
some specifics regarding ASCE-24 and how it’s different from what you may
have been used to in the past. We’ll talk a little bit about actually
doing grant applications and what information related to ASCE-24 is
required in a grant application. A little bit about how it applies to
elevation projects, mitigation reconstruction projects, dry floodproofing
projects, and discuss some resources.
So, as I said, we’re going to provide the overview and talk about the
ASCE-24 and how it is used and then follow-up with some resources, and
those resources will be available at the end in terms of a list of the
resource with a link.
So, the hazard mitigation assistance program provides mitigation
activities to protect both property and lives, from future damage. As
early as 2015, the hazard mitigation assistance program required the use
of ASCE-24 or an equivalent as a criterion for doing elevation dry
floodproofing or mitigation reconstruction projects, that are in the
special flood hazard area.
So what are the hazard mitigation assistance grant programs? Those
consist of three programs: the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, is the
one many people are familiar with after there is a major disaster
declared in a state, territory, or a tribal area.
And that actually allows the state or territory, or tribal area to
determine which projects they want to do based on dollars associated with
the damages from the disaster.
So often these are the ones you’re familiar with. The other two programs
are actually related to preventative types of grant programs. So, the
Pre-Disaster Mitigation program is typically an annual program, but it’s
based on grant dollars from Congress that states, territories, and tribal
areas submit applications; those are applications that are competitively
evaluated and then those grant dollars are distributed.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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And then there’s also the Flood Mitigation Assistance program that works
on an annual basis similar to the Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant program.
That’s to reduce and eliminate flood damages for NFIP properties.
So, as we said, the HMA program has been using this requirement for ASCE-
24 as early as 2015, but in 2016, there was a FEMA policy, 204 078-2,
that changed that requirement, as it says that FEMA will encourage, and
to the extent permitted by law require, the integration and use of
nationally recognized voluntary consensus-based building codes and
standards across FEMA programs.
So this policy covers all the FEMA programs, including Public Assistance.
And that all the FEMA programs will adopt regulations, policies, that are
related to these code programs. So now it is more pervasive than just the
HMA program as of 2016, and the real highlight here is that it includes
Public Assistance.
What is ASCE-24? ASCE-24 and another document called ASCE-7 together are
used to design buildings to resist flood loads. It addresses material,
design engineering requirements, and then to some extent testing
procedures and relates to ASTM standards and other standards that may be
used to test products that would be used on the building.
It’s developed as a consensus process, meaning that there is a committee
that is selected of professional engineers, contractors, and other parts
of the public. They’re allowed to review this document. And they can also
submit comments and suggestions on how ASCE-24 can be improved. ASCE-24,
by reference, is a supplement to the building codes, particularly the
model codes for the international codes that you may be familiar with. So
the other document that I do want to make you aware of here is also
referenced in ASCE-24, and ASCE-24 is referenced within this other
document, and that is ASCE-7. And ASCE-7 is a minimum design load for
buildings and other structures, and this is the document that engineers
used to calculate all of the building loads and then you’ll see within
Section 5 of ASCE-7 that it directly references ASCE-24 for developing
flood loads.
Just a brief overview of the section today of the ASCE-24, and I want to
say that each of the sections in ASCE-24 build on the previous section.
So Section 1 provides the scope, it provides definitions for terms used
within there so that you have an idea about what those terms are in
consistency and use of the terms, provide basic requirements, and then to
provide some flood loading requirements. Those general requirements are
used throughout the rest of ASCE-24 and are referenced back.
Section 2 covers areas that we think of as A zones; they’re referenced in
the codes. As you might know, these areas on a Flood Insurance Rate Map,
as zone A. Section 3 covers high risk flood areas, and those are not
necessarily coastal areas; they are more riverine areas, areas subject to
flash flooding, alluvial fan, mudslide areas, erosion-prone areas, high
velocity areas, and then we do have some description of wave action areas
as well as ice jams and debris areas.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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Section 4 is the other key area that many of you if you have a coastal
area are going to be looking at, and that covers what are coastal high
hazard areas, and think of those as primarily the B zone, on a Flood
Insurance Rate Map and the Coastal A Zone which, I will talk about in a
few slides about why the Coastal A Zone is important and why this may be
a new term to some of you.
Section 5 talks about material requirements. It does differentiate
between coastal areas and riverine areas in terms of corrosion
protection, but it also talks about steel, concrete, masonry, wood, in
terms of which materials are allowable, what testing procedures are used
for those materials in order to make sure that the materials used in the
project are going to be flood damage resistant.
Section Six, those of you looking at dry floodproofing projects will be
interested in reading Section 6 in its entirety; particularly Section 6.1
covers dry floodproofing. Wet floodproofing is also covered, and that wet
floodproofing as it’s covered with this is basically those areas used for
the allowable uses of parking, storage, and building access, that are
below the base flood elevation.
Section 7, are tenant utilities and equipment. You’ll see these
referenced in Section 2, which is the Zone A section, Section Four, which
is the V zone and Coastal A Zone, as well as Section 6, that it does
reference Section 7.
Section 8 is building access. Section 9 is going to cover the other parts
of the building that may not be the primary part of the building, but
could contribute to damages of the building. So that’s why it covers
garages, those attached, detached, carports, accessory structures,
chimneys, pools, and those would be pools that are attached or not
attached, and tanks often came up.
There are some references. Those are going to be the references to the
ASTM standards, The American Concrete Institute, and other reference
standards within the documents, and then for each of these 10 sections
there's a commentary section that is helpful to kind of understand the
intent of ASCE-24.
Buildings within ASCE-24 are grouped by flood design class. And that
flood design class goes from more of an agricultural use building to
common residential and commercial use buildings, to more higher occupancy
such as schools, movie theaters, higher occupancy buildings, and then
finally critical facilities such as police stations, fire stations, any
critical and essential facilities within a community, and there are
higher standards based on what that use of that building is, and we’ll
show you an example of that a little bit later.
So, let’s talk about how ASCE-24 defines those coastal flood zones. This
goes back to whether you need to use Section 2, which is the A zone area
or Section 4. In Section 4 you’re going to find the V zones. They’re
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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noted as Zone V on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, and these are areas
where the wave height is 3 feet or greater. In these areas, ASCE-24 as
well as the National Flood Insurance Program require open foundation.
There’s a requirement that compliance in terms of how that elevation is
measured is to the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural floor
member. And as I said, that’s the way they are designated on the Flood
Insurance Rate Map.
This next one, if you've never used ASCE-24 or may not be familiar with
the building code, it’s going to be particularly important. This is a
Coastal A Zone, and this is where the wave heights are between 1.5 feet
and 3 feet. Per ASCE-24, these areas also require open foundations. There
is an allowance for another foundation type called stem walls that are
allowed in these areas, and we’ll talk about those a little bit later.
Compliance is also measured to the bottom of the low horizontal
structural member of the lowest floor. And you’ll know what the Coastal A
Zone is based on the Flood Insurance Rate Map. Newer maps include a line
and that’s shown on the right side of the example FIRM, and that line is
called the limit of moderate wave action, and the area between the limit
of moderate wave action and the line designating Zone V are going to be
those Coastal A Zones. So these are also going to fall in Section 4 of
ASCE-24 as well as the V zone, and the requirement is very similar. The
intent is wanting to have foundations that are not going to be damaged by
wave loads.
Zone A is that nearest extent of the special flood hazard area landward,
and that’s where we have wave heights less than 1.5 feet. This allows the
use of closed foundations as long as those closed foundations have flood
openings in them. There’s also an allowance for fill in these areas, and
that compliance measure that we will see in a few slides is going to be
the top of the lowest floor.
This section is covered in Section 2 of ASCE-24.
So, looking at ASCE-24 and how it relates to the National Flood Insurance
Program, particularly the Code of Federal Regulations 4460.3, the
provisions of ASCE-24 are consistent with the NFIP performance
requirement. ASCE-24 either meets or exceeds those NFIP requirements as
stated in Section 60.3, but I want you to think of ASCE-24 as the new
standard of practice.
Based on those memorandums that we talked about earlier that were adopted
in 2015 for HMA and as of 2016, for the rest of the FEMA program, ASCE-24
is now the standard of practice. So, how does it compare to ASCE-24? How
does 24 relate to the Section 60.3? It provides more specific
requirements. It incorporates the use of the Coastal A Zone that we saw a
couple of slides back with foundation requirements for those Coastal A
Zones.
It requires new construction, as well as those buildings that are
substantially improved or substantially damaged, to incorporate
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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freeboard. Now substantial improvement and substantial damage, probably a
term many of you are familiar with, but just to catch everybody else up,
when we look at substantial building, any building that is in the special
hazard area that has been damaged by anything from flood to fire to any
sort of damage to that building, will be evaluated by the local building
official, and if the repairs to the building constitute 50 percent of the
pre-damaged value of the building, it will be deemed substantially
damaged and the requirement is that it needs to be brought into the
current NFIP requirement, meaning the current flood elevation requirement
as well as the other foundation requirement in the NFIP.
Substantial improvement applies a very similar standard to improvement to
a structure, and if the value of the improvement exceeds 50 percent of
the pre-improved value of the structure, it’s going to be deemed by that
local official to be substantially improved.
If you have questions about substantial improvement or substantial
damage, I would recommend you look at a document called FEMA 758, that’s
P-758, and that provides a desk reference to substantial damage and
substantial improvement.
The other requirement that you’re going to see with ASCE-24 is that it
requires dry floodproofing to include human intervention requirements,
and we’ll talk about those dry floodproofing requirements in a few
slides.
What is it going to require? We just talked about substantial
improvement, substantial damage with new buildings. If we’re looking at
projects that do not constitute new construction, these would be existing
building retrofit. They may not require compliance with ASCE-24 if they
don’t meet that substantial improvement or substantial damage threshold.
You are encouraged to use ASCE-24 to the largest extent possible with
those, but you may not be able to comply with all of those.
I will say that if we are talking about FEMA-funded retrofit projects,
complete compliance with ASCE-24 is preferred, and we’ll talk about how
that relates to elevation projects and dry floodproofing projects as
retrofitting projects in a few minutes. Some of the requirements with
ASCE-24 may be satisfied via documentation, indicating that that portion
of ASCE-24 is deemed to comply; that you tried to apply the spirit of
ASCE-24 to reduce those damages.
Notice that note on the right side; it says that HMA-funded elevation dry
floodproofing projects must comply with ASCE-24 regardless of whether
they are substantially damaged or they trigger substantial improvement.
So if we’re talking about those HMA-funded projects, it doesn’t matter
whether you are meeting those substantial improvement thresholds or that
existing building that was damaged was substantially damaged; if you are
going to use HMA funding, it must comply with ASCE-24.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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FEMA has a guidance document. This was done in 2013. You’re going to want
to download this document, and we’ll provide you a web link in order to
download this. It differs from the actual ASCE-24 document, so you’re
going to need both. You have to purchase ASCE-24 from the American
Society of Civil Engineers. FEMA does not provide that document for free.
But this guidance document is a FEMA publication which means it’s free.
It provides you a walk-through for each of these project types in very
specific detail and talks about what must comply directly with ASCE-24
versus what aspects of the project may be deemed to comply.
You can make sure by using this guidance document that you can meet those
performance requirements of ASCE-24 with your HMA project. And it kind of
sets some of those guidance in terms of this must comply completely with
ASCE-24 and this may be a deemed to comply portion.
Now that you’re kind of thinking about doing an HMA grant project let’s
talk about what should be included in that application. We will give you
three example statements that would be included in the typical
application in order to ensure that when there's a project review done, a
technical review of your project done, that they can verify that you
understand that you're going to meet the ASCE-24 requirement.
So the first affirmation is from the applicant stating that the scope of
work will be in compliance with ASCE-24. You’ll see that there is
reference to ASCE-24-05, 2005 edition or the most recent edition and that
is ASCE-24, the 2014. Usually note it’s ASCE-24-05 or ASCE-24-14. So we
want to make sure your scope of work is going to comply. The next
statement that we’re going to need is that you understand that prior to
the project closeout, that design documentation and certifications must
be submitted to FEMA to demonstrate that it conforms to ASCE-24, as well
as the established codes and other standards. So this may reference the
International Building Code or International Residential Code as well as
ASCE-7 that you met those requirements, and this includes a specific
statement to ASCE-24 and that requirement, so you want to make sure that
you affirm that it has been met at the end of the project.
The last statement is an affirmation that the applicant understands that
if they fail to comply or incorporate ASCE-24 in their project, that it
is the breach of the terms and conditions of the grant award.
So, it’s basically saying that if you don’t incorporate ASCE-24, you’re
in breach of this agreement you have with FEMA. Now this seems like a
tall order, and we want to make sure that you know that your design
professionals should be familiar with ASCE-24. That they know they need
to incorporate it. This may actually require them to do some additional
construction oversight. They may need to know this at the time so they
can include it in their cost estimate for the design work. The local
officials should also know that they need to be familiar with ASCE-24
both in the design process as well as the construction process so that
they can make sure that they incorporate it.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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This is covered in that guidance document about what those primary
requirements are that they need to follow. So it’s much, much easier if
you go ahead and read that guidance document.
So what qualifies as this design documentation? A statement or affidavit
from the design professionals, showing that it either complies or it’s
been deemed to comply with those requirements. It is a requirement about
template design. What is a template design? If you're doing an elevation
project and doing several buildings with that elevation project, maybe
20, maybe 30 elevation projects, and you have a standard design that
you’re going to use on most of those, you’re saying that the standard
design meets ASCE-24.
It meets the loading requirement, with respect to 24, for the areas that
it’s going to be applied to. It has proper flood openings that use the
proper material. And those utilities connected up, water service, the
wastewater service, and the electric utilities, meet those ASCE-24
requirements in Section 7.
We also want an affidavit or statement from that local official, and that
local official should be used to using ASCE-24, and this may require you
to use some outside technical services in order to make sure that you can
verify that the design and that construction will meet ASCE-24.
So just in a brief overview of the codes and standards, HMA projects must
comply with those model codes and standards, those either locally or
state-adopted standards, including the consensus code, that it’s going to
meet all of these requirements, including ASCE-24. And we want to make
sure that everybody understands that even if the project is technically
feasible, meaning that it makes good engineering sense, that it’s cost-
effective, that if it doesn’t meet these codes and standards, that it’s
considered in violation of the grant agreement. So we just want to kind
of hammer this point home with this statement.
So, we always recommend with each application, once you get through the
design process, that it undergoes a code compliance check. That it’s
reviewed to make sure that it meets all of the applicable codes. If that
building ends up triggering substantial improvement or substantial damage
requirements, that all of those provisions are met and this includes
compliance with ASCE-24, I'm sorry, this includes compliance with the
International Codes, and there's some very good descriptions in the 2012
as well as 2015 International Code about various categories, building and
work and what may code requirement may kick in with this type of project.
So code adoption versus standard adoption. Based on communities often
regulate with building construction by adoption and enforcing the codes,
and what we want to make sure people are looking at is that we’re talking
about both adopting the code as well as enforcing the code. And those
building codes set minimum requirements for design, materials, and hazard
mitigation. The important point in this bullet is the fact that the
building codes establish a minimum requirement. This does not mean that
you cannot go above the minimum requirement. So FEMA really encourages
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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you to go above these minimum requirements, but the building code set
that minimum requirement.
Numerous standards, these are the design standards such as ASCE-7 and 24,
are incorporated into the building code, and we just provided you an
example from the International Building Code. This is the 2015
international code and you’ll see in Section 1612.4 that it talks about
the design and construction of buildings in flood hazard areas; these are
special flood hazard areas, including coastal high hazard areas and
Coastal A Zones, so there’s that term Coastal A Zone, shall be in
accordance with Chapter Five, that’s the flood provisions of ASCE-7, and
with ASCE-24. So the building codes specifically call out ASCE-4 as well
as the loading requirements in ASCE-7. If your community is not a
community that has a building code, we recommend that you make sure that
you’ve got the proper officials in to review those plans and the
construction of the building, so it may require some extra due diligence
on your part to make sure that you can verify that ASCE-24 has been
incorporated properly.
So let’s talk about these programs in terms of the mitigation options
that we primarily look at with ASCE-24. First we’ll look at elevation;
this is basically raising an existing structure on fill, foundation
elements such as walls, piers, posts, columns, or piles. We have a nice
picture of a building that was raised after Hurricane Katrina. It did
very well with Hurricane Ike. This is on the other side of Lake
Pontchartrain from New Orleans, and we went out after Hurricane Isaac and
evaluated the performance of the building. So this is a really good
example of an elevation project done right.
So looking at the elevation requirements, when we look at the NFIP 60.3,
we’re looking at those minimum NFIP requirements on the left side, with
this house, and then we look at ASCE-24 in terms of those minimum ASCE-24
elevation requirements, whether it’s a flood design class that I talked
about on the right, and it has minimum elevation categories.
So for a residential structure, a single-family home, it would fall in
category 2, so that would be the base flood elevation plus 1 foot of
freeboard, or if the community has a design flood elevation, a higher
requirement than that; whichever of those is higher, gets incorporated
into the building.
So that’s what we’re seeing, and that house in the middle, which is
there’s the ASCE-24, which is the BFE +1 foot, and the community might've
had base flood elevation +2 feet of freeboard, and that’s why you see the
house even a little bit higher. So, this is a good example of the minimum
NFIP requirements versus the minimum ASCE-24 requirement.
So, what other ASCE-24 requirements are required for elevation projects?
Well, there are some allowable foundation types, we’ll show you those
examples in a minute. And that requirement may be dictated by the flood
zone that you’ve got. That flood zone is going to be whatever the current
flood zone is that the building is going to be elevated in.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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If that zone has changed from Zone A to a Zone V, you’re going to need to
meet those V zone requirements with this current elevation project. So
you now have to have an open foundation.
The foundation must resist the flood loads including flotation, collapse,
lateral movement, and this as it applies to the foundation. So we’re not
talking about the upper stories of those buildings. We’re really focusing
on that foundation.
So, if there’s any existing portions of the foundation, which is
sometimes done, that are reused, or added onto in order to elevate the
building, those existing sections of the foundation must also meet these
ASCE-24 requirements.
Now if you're going to do that, if you end up moving from a Zone A to a
Zone V, then you might have to change the foundation totally from a
closed foundation to an open foundation. If you use foundation walls, it
must include openings and materials that must comply with Section 5 of
ASCE-24 as well as, by reference, the NFIP Technical Bulletin 2, which is
on flood damage-resistant materials. All of those utilities also need to
meet the requirements for utilities in Section 7, in terms of the water,
wastewater, and the electricity.
So, here’s our example on flood zones and what the options are for the
new foundation. As you can see on the top one, we’re looking at fill; you
can do walls, you can do columns or piles, and those differences between
the columns and the piles, those piles are in a deep foundation. And the
minimum elevation requirement is measured to the top of that lowest
floor, which is what you see on the right.
If you go into the areas that have wave action, we’re looking at the V
zone and Coastal A Zone. We’re not allowed to do a foundation on fill
material. We’re not allowed to do an elevation on foundation walls, and
that’s because those flood loads will damage that fill or that foundation
wall such that we could have collapse of the house, and in those areas,
we limit the loads on the building by having those open foundations as
you can see the columns or the piles. Now, the elevation requirement
moving from the top to the lowest floor to the bottom of the lowest
horizontal structural member, which is what you can see on the right side
of the illustration.
Mitigation reconstruction, this is where we have maybe a structure that
historically might be considered for elevation but maybe it’s in such bad
shape that it might not meet the wind loading requirements, and so you
end up thinking about doing mitigation reconstruction, which is moving
everything out of the house, tearing down the house, and then on the same
lot building a new structure. That must meet the NFIP, the HMA
requirement as well as all of the ASCE-24 requirements. So it has to meet
all of those requirements, all the International Code requirements, as
required, by that policy memo that we looked at earlier.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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It’s allowable under all of the HMA programs, and there’s some square
footage requirements to make sure that that house doesn’t get very much
larger than the house that it replaces. But again what I want to make
sure that you understand is that it must meet all of the ASCE-24
requirements for a new construction, and it should meet by that 2016
memo, it should meet the ASCE-7 requirements. That might mean wind loads,
snow loads, seismic loads, it needs to meet all of those other loading
requirements.
So, let’s talk about dry floodproofing as a last mitigation measure. This
is where we use a combination of measures to prevent water from entering
that building or a portion of that building. And all of these elements
are considered substantially impermeable. Substantially impermeable is
defined as where a wall system or a floor slab prevents the accumulation
of no more than 4 inches of water in that dry floodproof space over a 24-
hour time period without the inclusion of pump systems. So there is a
very defined performance requirement there. ASCE-24 prevents you from
using dry floodproofing as an allowable project type in high flood risk
areas, V zones and Coastal A Zones. So, there's a lot of restriction
anywhere we’ve got wave action or some other fast-moving water, that we
don’t use dry floodproofing as a mitigation measure. You must meet the
elevation requirements. There is a Table 6-1 that’s in ASCE-24 that gives
you those elevation requirements based on flood design class. You must
look at those flood zone restrictions. I talked about the A zones and the
V zones. There’s also restrictions on how fast that water is moving. So
you need to look at the velocity restrictions.
ASCE-24 materials requirements, that’s in Section 5. It applies to all
aspects of the protected area. So all aspects of that dry floodproofed
area it applies to. We talked about the substantially impermeable
requirement. And that’s without the assistance of a pump. ASCE-24
requires you to include pumps, and that’s to get rid of any leaked water
in that area. You must meet some egress requirements to make sure that
there is some way to get out of that building in that dry floodproof
state, and that egress must go over that flood protection elevation.
You must also have a flood warning system or a flood warning time of
about 12 hours, and there’s a very detailed description in the human
intervention section of ASCE-24 about this. All covers, shields, must
meet the flooding load requirements. And there’s also a requirement for a
flood emergency plan, and that’s basically a plan that gets reviewed and
approved by authority having jurisdiction, and it outlines how you’re
going to install any human intervention measures and that includes those
shields and covers.
Another slide, on looking at these 24 requirements, as I said it’s
primarily intended for nonresidential buildings and nonresidential
portions of mixed-use buildings. It is now allowable per ASCE-24 for
residential areas. This also agrees with Section 60.3 of 44 CFR. Utility
systems must be protected if they are outside that dry floodproofed area
because we want to prevent water from getting in these utility lines and
sanitary lines. If there are historic buildings and they’ve got a
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
12
nonresidential capacity, they must be applied ASCE-24 as closely as
possible without compromising historic designation. We do have some
allowances for historic residential buildings. The point that I want to
make about this, is you want to adhere to ASCE-24 as closely as possible
and pay particular attention to egress requirements in that dry
floodproofed area.
The final thing I want to cover with dry floodproofing is that there is a
flood proofing certificate, and flood proofing certificates apply in
addition to elevation certificates for these dry floodproofed areas. This
is a requirement by the National Flood Insurance Program and the building
codes for dry floodproofed areas. It’s required for flood insurance, so
if you have an NFIP, National Flood Insurance Program, flood insurance
policy, it is required by that.
It is now, as of 2015, an as-built certificate. Meaning that the engineer
or architect that signs and seals that document understands that not only
was it designed to meet ASCE-24 but that it also was built to meet ASCE-
24.
It’s required in the A zones that we talked about, which zone you are
allowed to do dry floodproofing in. It only applies to nonresidential
structures because there is a nonresidential restriction in Section 60.3
or portions of mixed-use buildings. It’s important for building owners to
read and understand this floodproofing certificate because it’s required
for flood insurance, and they will have to have that building recertified
over time. So, they’ll have to have their design professional come back
in later and re-sign and recertify that building.
As I said, it requires compliance with ASCE-24. We covered a lot here.
Just above and beyond looking at grants, we want to talk about the
benefits of ASCE-24 briefly.
When we incorporate the use of ASCE-24, we see reduced building and
building content damages during a base flood event. So if I have a base
flood event, if I just use the 44 CFR 60.3, that would put that lowest
floor that you can see off on the right right at that base flood
elevation, so we get some building flood damages in that flood so it
would incorporate the factor of safety. And over time, as that floodplain
may increase flood height, it includes that factor of safety to cover
future changes in flood height, because that building has very, very
minimal damage in a base flood event, we can reduce residential
displacement time. It’s important to understand that residential
displacement is not covered in an NFIP flood insurance policy. It can
reduce your overall flood insurance premiums. It has potential to reduce
those flood insurance premiums because there is a rate for being at the
base flood elevation, and you’d get premium discounts or may be eligible
for the premium discounts as you get elevation above the BFE +1+2+3+4.
Communities can also look at adopting and enforcing ASCE-24 as a way to
be eligible for community rating system or CRS credits. And those CRS
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
13
credits kind of further trickle down to the NFIP policyholders as
potential premium discounts.
Here’s a list of the FEMA resources. There’s that guidance document we
talked about at the beginning. There’s a highlight to ASCE-24-14, there’s
also one that we’ve done for ASCE-24-05. We included references for FEMA-
312 which is the homeowner’s guide, 259 which is an engineer’s/designer's
guide to retrofitting residential structures to single-family homes. We
incorporated FEMA-55, which is the coastal construction manual, primarily
looking at residential single-family homes, but it is valuable for
looking at design requirements for both residential and nonresidential
occupancies because it covers how to do flood calculations, particularly
for coastal areas. FEMA-936 is primarily focused on dry floodproofing of
nonresidential buildings, but it also does cover some other flood
mitigation options. And then some references to the NFIP technical
bulletin that we kind of referenced, NFIP Technical Bulletin 2. If you
read ASCE-24 you’re going to see a lot of technical references. Technical
Bulletin 1 on openings and several of these other NFIP technical
bulletins such as 4, as the elevators’ document within ASCE-24, so it’s
valuable to download those NFIP technical bulletins and read those also
for more clarity on the intent of what that guidance document is telling
you.
So that concludes the information I wanted to cover with this
presentation, and I think now we’re going to open it up to questions.
Kirsten Roth: Thanks so much, Adam.
We are getting a few questions regarding a copy of the presentation. And
I just want to remind all of the participants on the line that in the
bottom right-hand corner of the presentation there is a pod called file
share. And a 508 compliant PDF copy of our presentation is available. So
you can just click on that and hit download and pull up a copy of the
presentation straight to your computer.
Ok, we’ve gotten quite a few questions in, so we will not be able to
answer all of them today. We will do our best to answer as many as we can
now, and then we will follow up with a Q&A sheet afterwards and post that
online.
First question, really easy Adam, where can I get a copy of ASCE-24?
Adam Reeder: The best thing to do is use your web browser if you can. I
would browse for the American Society of Civil Engineers; I might
specifically type in ASCE-24 and you can buy it from the American Society
of Civil Engineers. You can either buy a hard copy if that is preferable
or you can get a PDF version of it.
But a purchase from the American Society of Civil Engineers is typically
the way people get a copy of it.
John Ingargiola: This is John Ingargiola, I’ll just add also that you
might want to visit your local building department, and if you just have
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
14
to look something up, or see the book, as a reference, they might have
it, and also in some public libraries you will find the standards and
codes that are on the library reference shelves. A couple of other ways
to get access to the document.
Kirsten Roth: Thanks, John.
Ok, moving on. How does ASCE-24 relate to ASCE-7?
Adam Reeder: So, the way that ASCE-7 goes through, it goes through
sections on what each of these loads are. So there’s wind loads, as I
said, seismic loads. And Section 5 is a pretty short section to ASCE-7,
and it talks about calculating some of these flood loads. But it
references directly using ASCE-24 to do the flood design. And so ASCE-24
is just a much more fleshed out version of doing flood design. Rather
than if you look in ASCE-7 under wind loading or seismic loading, they’re
very detailed. They decided to do a separate document for flood design
because it allows them to update that document a little bit more quickly.
And then it’s going to cover not only the design but also material
selection, as well as construction requirements. So it actually has a
little bit more detailed requirements in some aspects than even the
seismic or the wind requirement. But it’s a direct reference in ASCE-7
and has been since about 1998.
Kirsten Roth: Great, thanks, Adam.
We have a question. I’m thinking if you could flip back to slide 26 of
your presentation, I do believe it relates to that slide.
OK, so we had a couple of questions regarding square footage. Does the
square footage maximum increase apply to footprint or total square
footage?
Adam Reeder: This is a Mitigation reconstruction. This is slide 25, so
mitigation reconstruction, Brian, are you on?
Brian Willsey: Yeah, I’m here. It does allow you to rebuild to the same
square footage you had previously and you can exceed that by 10 percent
of the original structure as it says in that bullet.
Adam Reeder: I don't know if that answers the question or not.
Brian Willsey: Go ahead.
Adam Reeder: It’s actually covered in the HMA guidance document. It’s in
the addendum. There’s a whole section for Appendix D, as in Delta; it’s
on mitigation reconstruction projects. It provides an overview, it
provides eligibility requirements, it provides cost allowances, what
should be included in that. So I would really encourage you to look at
that HMA addendum guidance document to really understand the allowances
for mitigation reconstruction.
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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Brian Willsey: Good point, Adam. I’d agree and I encourage folks to look
at that too.
Kirsten Roth: Great, thank you. Ok, moving on, does ASCE-24 address
flooding in dense urban areas or is there another resource for that?
Adam Reeder: What ASCE-24 is going to do is, it is going to provide you a
very general overview that isn’t going to matter whether it’s talking
about an urban area or a rural area. I think if you’re in an urban area,
you may want to look at some of the hurricane recovery advisories. There
was a Hurricane Sandy recovery advisory 5 which talks about determining
your flood elevation and going above the minimum elevation requirements.
I would encourage you to look at that because it’ll provide you some good
guidance on looking at coastal storm surge and how to go above the
minimum elevation requirement there.
There was also an update to that done for the Iowa floods that were just
last year, 2016. We’re in 2018, so I guess two years ago, there was a
recovery advisory for looking at a riverine structure going above the
minimum elevation requirements. I think you'll find a lot of the
information that you want to know there in terms of some of the nuances
of looking at how buildings may impact your flood elevation requirement.
Kirsten Roth: Thanks, Adam. Next question: will ASCE-24 be required for
all 2017 flood disaster recovery programs?
John Ingargiola: This is John Ingargiola. I think as we mentioned at the
beginning, the latter part of 2016, FEMA issued the FEMA building codes
directive, with those two policies, Public Assistance minimum standards
and the disaster risk reduction in the standards.
So for the disasters after that time, these hazard resistant provisions
and the latest codes apply. That was the latter part of 2016. And so yes,
from that point forward including 2017, these hazard provisions and these
codes and standards apply to these eligible projects in declared
disasters.
Kirsten Roth: Thanks John. We have a questions and it says: many of our
rural local governments don’t adopt or necessarily enforce building
codes. Is there a mechanism in ASCE policies to require building codes
for flood zones?
Brian Willsey: There’s not a requirement within ASCE-7 or ASCE-24 about
requiring the use in flood zones. And the way it would be required is, as
we said, with projects that are in, that have been through natural
disasters that may be applying for FEMA grants or maybe applying for FEMA
pre-disaster grants, so they would be required for those. In terms of
code adoption, as we stated earlier, adopting ASCE-24 could make that
community eligible for CRS credit, and that likely would behoove them to
go ahead and adopt those codes and standards in order to get those CRS
Using ASCE-24 for Hazard Mitigation Assistance – Webinar Transcript
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credits. You want to say more this, John? Oh sure, just a follow-up. And
Adam’s correct.
The requirement to apply ASCE-24 applies specifically to that project. So
that’s regardless of whether the jurisdiction has codes or not. So, it
applies to the project and usually there are design professionals
involved in these projects and standards like ASCE-24 and ASCE-7 are kind
of the customary standards they use in design and construction.
So, those folks are very familiar with it. As I pointed out I think at
the beginning, we’re seeing growing numbers of communities across the
nation adopting these codes with these reference standards, so in many
places it’s business as usual. In other places there’s a learning curve.
But it all comes down to whoever that design professional is involved in
that specific project, they’d be expected to apply and use the flood
standard.
But I want to be very clear on this point right now, not to detract any
from the value of ASCE-24, but that memo covers FEMA programs but it is
not adoption of ASCE-24; it is not a requirement of an NFIP community in
terms of complying with the NFIP right now.
So it behooves the community to adopt that 24; it’s going to be required
for these mitigation grant projects, but it is not a requirement in order
to comply with those NFIP requirements being in an NFIP community. So
just to make sure there is no misinformation about that right now, with
this, I wanted to make that clarification point.
Kirsten Roth: Thank you so much, Adam and John and Brian. We are pushing
up against our 3 PM time to close at the webinar, but before we do, we
have a few short polling questions that we were hoping all of you could
take a moment to answer. Over all how would you rate this webinar? How
useful was the information? How many people are participating with you?
If you learned something, and what other future webinar topics would you
like to hear from us at Hazard Mitigation Assistance? So if you could
please just take a moment and fill those out, and just as a reminder, we
did provide the presentation in the bottom right-hand corner under file
share. You can select using ASCE-24 and hit download file and get a copy
of the presentation to your computer.
Thank you all for joining and thank you again, Adam, John, and Brian for
participating and presenting on the webinar.
So, thanks everyone, and have a great day. [Event Concluded]