FEMA recently released the future mapping of floodplains along the Lake Michigan shoreline. On September 24, FEMA gave a presentation on the map update in Winnetka. You can view that presentation on the Great Lakes Coasts website. 

It is expected that the final maps will be issued around September 2020, with their effective date around March 2021. We are encouraging residents to secure flood insurance policies as we approach the final maps being issued. It may be possible to reduce flood insurance premiums if policies are secured before the new floodplain maps are effective.

FEMA has created a website to help communities and residents understand the mapping and their impact. The preliminary maps are available on the FEMA Map Service Center under "Search All Products", "Illinois", "Cook County", "Chicago" and "Preliminary Products". Panels 17031C258K, 266K, 268K, 407K, and 417K show the lakefront north of the loop.

FEMA has put together some fact sheets to help residents understand the various insurance programs available through their agency. These are linked below:

National Flood Insurance Program Fact Sheet
NFIP: Floodplain Management Fact Sheet
NFIP: Why Do I Need Flood Insurance?
NFIP: Map Changes and Flood Insurance
Floodsmart
Preferred Risk Policy
HMA general brochure

The Mitigation Division of FEMA houses the National Flood Insurance Program and the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs among other disaster resilience-leaning programs to prepare for, protect against, and prevent damages from natural disasters in order to strengthen community capabilities to respond and recover from events. In Illinois, the grantee for FEMA's HMA grants is the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.