The notices
FEMA published a notice on August 21, 2026 at 91 Federal Register 54345 listing communities where Letters of Map Revision finalise new base flood elevations, special flood hazard area boundaries or floodway designations, under docket FEMA-2026-0002.
A follow-on notice published September 10 at 91 Federal Register 57628 establishes November 13, 2026 as the date the revised Flood Insurance Rate Maps and, where applicable, Flood Insurance Study reports become effective for the listed communities.
A separate August 21 notice at 91 Federal Register 54339 sought public comment on additional proposed flood hazard determinations, with a comment period closing November 19, 2026. An earlier batch was finalised in a May 18 notice at 91 Federal Register 28607. The contact listed across the notices is David N. Bascom, acting director of the Engineering and Modeling Division in the Federal Insurance Directorate.
What an effective date changes
Flood Insurance Rate Maps are not advisory documents. They are the basis for the floodplain management measures a community must adopt to remain eligible for the National Flood Insurance Program, which means the effective date is a compliance deadline for local government as much as an information release for property owners.
For individual owners, a parcel newly mapped into a special flood hazard area faces a mandatory purchase requirement on federally backed mortgages. A revised base flood elevation changes the elevation at which new construction and substantial improvements must be built, which can alter the economics of a renovation as decisively as a zoning change.
Letters of Map Revision are typically initiated by communities or property owners with new engineering data, so revisions move in both directions — some parcels come out of mapped flood zones.
What this report does not tell you
Estate Wire has not extracted the full community tables from these notices. Which specific counties and municipalities are affected, and in what direction, can only be determined by reading the lists within each notice, and we are not summarising them from memory or inference. FEMA's companion Letters of Final Determination index, however, does show the states covered by this November 13 batch: Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia, based on a Letter of Final Determination issued May 13, 2026.
Readers with a specific property should consult the notice text directly through the Federal Register and FEMA's Map Service Center. Note also that the Federal Register's own site is the authoritative source; private mirrors of federal notices exist and should not be relied on for legal effect.
FEMA issues these letters on a rolling basis roughly every two to six weeks; separate 2026 batches take effect on dates including October 29, November 27, December 10, December 23 and January 7, 2027, each covering a different list of states, according to FEMA's published Letters of Final Determination index.