---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 4002"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "4002"
heading: "Additional Congressional findings and declaration of purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/4002"
units:
  - "Chapter 50 — National Flood Insurance"
---

# §4002. Additional Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

- (a) The Congress finds that—
  - (1) annual losses throughout the Nation from [floods](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) and mudslides are increasing at an alarming rate, largely as a result of the accelerating development of, and concentration of population in, areas of [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) and mudslide hazards;
  - (2) the availability of Federal loans, grants, guaranties, insurance, and other forms of [financial assistance](/usc/42/4003.md?p=a-3) are often determining factors in the utilization of land and the location and [construction](/usc/42/300s–3.md?p=7) of public and of private industrial, commercial, and residential facilities;
  - (3) property acquired or constructed with grants or other Federal assistance may be exposed to risk of loss through [floods](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1), thus frustrating the purpose for which such assistance was extended;
  - (4) Federal instrumentalities insure or otherwise provide financial protection to banking and credit institutions whose assets include a substantial number of mortgage loans and other indebtedness secured by property exposed to loss and damage from [floods](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) and mudslides;
  - (5) the Nation cannot afford the tragic losses of life caused annually by [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) occurrences, nor the increasing losses of property suffered by [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) victims, most of whom are still inadequately compensated despite the provision of costly [disaster](/usc/42/5204.md?p=2) relief benefits; and
  - (6) it is in the public interest for [persons](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-5) already living in [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1)-prone areas to have both an opportunity to purchase [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) insurance and access to more adequate limits of coverage, so that they will be indemnified, for their losses in the event of future [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) [disasters](/usc/42/5204.md?p=2).
- (b) The purpose of this Act, therefore, is to—
  - (1) substantially increase the limits of coverage authorized under the [national flood insurance program](/usc/42/4004.md?p=a-4);
  - (2) provide for the expeditious identification of, and the dissemination of information concerning, [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1)-prone areas;
  - (3) require [States](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-2) or local [communities](/usc/42/4003.md?p=a-1), as a condition of future Federal [financial assistance](/usc/42/4003.md?p=a-3), to participate in the [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) insurance program and to adopt adequate [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) plan ordinances with effective enforcement provisions consistent with Federal standards to reduce or avoid future [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) losses; and
  - (4) require the purchase of [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) insurance by property [owners](/usc/42/13641.md?p=4) who are being assisted by Federal programs or by federally supervised, regulated, or insured [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) or institutions in the acquisition or improvement of land or facilities located or to be located in identified areas having special [flood](/usc/42/4121.md?p=a-1) hazards.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 93–234, § 2, Dec. 31, 1973, 87 Stat. 975.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (b), means Pub. L. 93–234, Dec. 31, 1973, 87 Stat. 975, known as the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1973 Amendment note set out under section 4001 of this title and Tables.

### Codification

Section was enacted as part of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, and not as part of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 which comprises this chapter.