Base PDH

Guidance for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping: Coastal Structures

Water Resources

Last Updated: May 23, 2026

PDH_CREDITS
2 Hours
PRICE
$20.00

Summary

This course adapts FEMA's Guidance for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping: Coastal Structures (Guidance Document No. 42, November 2024) for engineers serving as the engineer of record on certified coastal flood protection structures or as a Mapping Partner under the National Flood Insurance Program. The course covers the five primary coastal structure types (gravity seawalls, pile-supported seawalls, anchored bulkheads, revetments, and dikes/levees), the 44 CFR § 65.2 design criteria for FEMA recognition on Flood Insurance Rate Maps, and the analytical treatment of intact, partially failed, and removed structures during the 1-percent-annual-chance flood. Students will work through evaluation criteria, failure geometry approximations, and documentation requirements that govern how coastal structures appear on FIRMs.

Learning Objectives

  1. Distinguish among the five primary coastal flood protection structure types and explain the cross-section, foundation, and load-resisting characteristics that drive their evaluation and recognition under the NFIP.

  2. Apply the 44 CFR § 65.2 design criteria for FEMA recognition, including design water levels and wave parameters, minimum freeboard, toe and backfill protection, and structural stability checks at both minimum and critical water levels.

  3. Evaluate the survival, partial failure, or removal of coastal structures during the 1-percent-annual-chance flood, including geometric approximations for failed vertical walls and sloping revetments and the treatment of buried structures and sheltered-water bulkheads.

  4. Describe the certification, operation and maintenance, and Technical Study Data Notebook documentation requirements that a Mapping Partner or engineer of record must satisfy to support a Letter of Map Revision or initial FIRM recognition.

Course Reading Material

Guidance for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping: Coastal Structures

BasePDH  |  Course No. 012  |  2 PDH

Source: FEMA Guidance Document No. 42

Title: Guidance for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping, Coastal Structures
Document No.: Guidance Document No. 42
Date: November 2024
Organization: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Program: Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP)
Source URL: FEMA Guidelines and Standards for Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping

This course adapts FEMA Guidance Document No. 42 for licensed Professional Engineers. The PE applies this material in two primary roles:

  • As the engineer of record certifying a coastal flood protection structure (gravity seawall, pile-supported seawall, revetment, anchored bulkhead, or dike/levee) for FEMA recognition on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). The PE prepares and stamps the structural, geotechnical, and design analyses required under 44 CFR § 65.2 and submits certified as-built plans.
  • As a Mapping Partner — the term FEMA uses throughout this guidance for a registered professional engineer or engineering consultant retained to perform flood risk studies and map revisions on behalf of a community or FEMA. Where this guidance refers to "the Mapping Partner," the PE should read this as direction to themselves when serving in that role.

The PE's deliverables under both roles are subject to professional engineering certification, with the PE assuming professional responsibility for the analysis, design assumptions, and conclusions.

Table of Revisions

Affected Section or Subsection Date Description
Section 2.1 November 2024 Revised language regarding Operation and Maintenance plans and design life for certified coastal structures

1. Topic Overview

This guidance document supports the standards related to approving coastal protection structures to be shown as providing protection on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and outlines methods for analyzing the stability and effects of coastal structures during the 1-percent-annual-chance flood conditions.

Because coastal structures can significantly affect local topography and flood hazards, Mapping Partners must evaluate coastal structures as part of any flood hazard study. The evaluation should, where possible, determine whether a coastal structure will survive the 1-percent-annual-chance flood and what impacts it will have on upland flooding.

Criteria for evaluating the stability and performance of coastal armoring structures for Flood Risk Project purposes are well-developed and are discussed in detail. Criteria for evaluating beach stabilization structures have not been developed yet, and only basic guidance is provided. Criteria for evaluating miscellaneous structures are not standardized, and only basic guidance is provided. The Mapping Partner should coordinate with FEMA when only basic guidance is provided. Treatment of each structure must be clearly documented in the Technical Study Data Notebook (TSDN).

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