§ 4121. Definitions

(a) As used in this chapter—

(1) the term “flood” shall have such meaning as may be prescribed in regulations of the Director, and may include inundation from rising waters or from the overflow of streams, rivers, or other bodies of water, or from tidal surges, abnormally high tidal water, tidal waves, tsunamis, hurricanes, or other severe storms or deluge;

(2) the terms “United States” (when used in a geographic sense) and “State” includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the territories and possessions, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;

(3) the terms “Insurance company”, “other insurer” and “insurance agent or broker” include any organizations and persons authorized to engage in the insurance business under the laws of any State;

(4) the term “insurance adjustment organization” includes any organizations and persons engaged in the business of adjusting loss claims arising under insurance policies issued by any insurance company or other insurer;

(5) the term “person” includes any individual or group of individuals, corporation, partnership, association, or any other organized group of persons, including State and local governments and agencies thereof;

(6) the term “Director” means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency;

(7) the term “repetitive loss structure” means a structure covered by a contract for flood insurance that—

(A) has incurred flood-related damage on 2 occasions, in which the cost of repair, on the average, equaled or exceeded 25 percent of the value of the structure at the time of each such flood event; and

(B) at the time of the second incidence of flood-related damage, the contract for flood insurance contains increased cost of compliance coverage.^[1]

(8) the term “Federal agency lender” means a Federal agency that makes direct loans secured by improved real estate or a mobile home, to the extent such agency acts in such capacity;

(9) the term “Federal entity for lending regulation” means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Farm Credit Administration, and with respect to a particular regulated lending institution means the entity primarily responsible for the supervision of the institution;

(10) the term “improved real estate” means real estate upon which a building is located;

(11) the term “lender” means a regulated lending institution or Federal agency lender;

(12) the term “natural and beneficial floodplain functions” means—

(A) the functions associated with the natural or relatively undisturbed floodplain that

(i) moderate flooding, retain flood waters, reduce erosion and sedimentation, and mitigate the effect of waves and storm surge from storms, and

(ii) reduce flood related damage; and

(B) ancillary beneficial functions, including maintenance of water quality and recharge of ground water, that reduce flood related damage;

(13) the term “regulated lending institution” means any bank, savings and loan association, credit union, farm credit bank, Federal land bank association, production credit association, or similar institution subject to the supervision of a Federal entity for lending regulation;

(14) the term “servicer” means the person responsible for receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of a loan, including amounts for taxes, insurance premiums, and other charges with respect to the property securing the loan, and making the payments of principal and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the loan; and

(15) the term “substantially damaged structure” means a structure covered by a contract for flood insurance that has incurred damage for which the cost of repair exceeds an amount specified in any regulation promulgated by the Director, or by a community ordinance, whichever is lower.

(b) The term “flood” shall also include inundation from mudslides which are proximately caused by accumulations of water on or under the ground; and all of the provisions of this chapter shall apply with respect to such mud-slides in the same manner and to the same extent as with respect to floods described in subsection (a)(1) of this section, subject to and in accordance with such regulations, modifying the provisions of this chapter (including the provisions relating to land management and use) to the extent necessary to insure that they can be effectively so applied, as the Director may prescribe to achieve (with respect to such mudslides) the purposes of this chapter and the objectives of the program.

(c) The term “flood” shall also include the collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels, and all of the provisions of this chapter shall apply with respect to such collapse or subsidence in the same manner and to the same extent as with respect to floods described in subsection (a)(1) of this section, subject to and in accordance with such regulations, modifying the provisions of this chapter (including the provisions relating to land management and use) to the extent necessary to insure that they can be effectively so applied, as the Director may prescribe to achieve (with respect to such collapse or subsidence) the purposes of this chapter and the objectives of the program.

[1] So in original. The period probably should be a semicolon.

U.S. Code

§ 4121. Definitions