Practice Test Geeks(CFS) Certified Floodplain Surveyor Practice Test
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Floodplain Mapping & Elevation Determination Flashcards

7 cards from real CFS practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Floodplain Mapping & Elevation Determination flashcards as text

  1. A community wants to adopt a floodway encroachment standard more restrictive than FEMA's default. Which statement is correct?

    Answer: Communities may adopt a zero-rise floodway standard as a higher regulatory requirement

    NFIP minimum standards allow up to a 1-foot surcharge, but communities may adopt more restrictive standards such as zero-rise to provide greater flood protection.

  2. When converting an older FIRM from NGVD 29 to NAVD 88, which tool does FEMA recommend for datum conversion?

    Answer: VERTCON

    VERTCON (Vertical Conversion) is NOAA's tool for converting elevations between NGVD 29 and NAVD 88 across the conterminous United States.

  3. What is the regulatory significance of the 'Limit of Study' shown on some FIRM panels?

    Answer: It indicates where detailed hydraulic analysis ends and approximate Zone A begins

    The Limit of Study delineates where a detailed engineering analysis with established BFEs ends and an approximate study (Zone A, no BFE) begins along a studied stream.

  4. A property owner built a home in 1968 before their community joined the NFIP. The structure was not elevated to the BFE. Under NFIP, this structure is classified as:

    Answer: Pre-FIRM, eligible for subsidized insurance rates (being phased out under BW-12)

    Pre-FIRM structures built before a community's initial FIRM were eligible for subsidized rates, though the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 began phasing out those subsidies.

  5. Which elevation on the Elevation Certificate is used to determine the lowest floor for insurance rating purposes for a slab-on-grade structure?

    Answer: Top of bottom floor (C2.a)

    For a slab-on-grade structure, C2.a (top of bottom floor) represents the lowest floor used for NFIP flood insurance rating.

  6. In a Zone V coastal SFHA, what construction requirement distinguishes it from Zone AE?

    Answer: Structures must be elevated on open foundations (piles/piers) allowing wave passage underneath

    Zone V requires open-foundation construction so that waves can pass beneath structures, because fill or solid walls would be scoured and destroyed by wave action.

  7. What is 'freeboard' as used in floodplain management and NFIP community regulations?

    Answer: An additional safety margin added above the BFE for design or regulatory purposes

    Freeboard is an extra cushion above the BFE that communities may require to reduce flood damage risk beyond the minimum NFIP standard.