The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 is a piece of legislation passed in the United States that led to the creation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).[1]
The NFIP goals are two-fold:
• To provide flood insurance for structures and contents in communities that adopt and enforce an ordinance outlining minimal floodplain management standards.
• To identify areas of high and low flood hazard and establish flood insurance rates for structures inside each flood hazard area.[2]
The act was motivated by a long history of property damage and loss of life due to flooding.[3] The legislation was finally promulgated because of the recent flood loss sustained in Florida and Louisiana following the destruction caused by the Hurricane Betsy flood surge in 1965.[1]