Page 1 GAO-25-107340 National Levee Database Roles and Responsibilities
Levees are man-made structures, such as earthen embankments or concrete
floodwalls, that play a vital role in reducing the risk of flooding. In the aftermath of
destructive levee failures during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers established the National Levee Database—the first
centralized repository of information on the nation’s levees. The Corps was
required by the National Levee Safety Act of 2007 to establish the database,
which became publicly available in 2011. It is intended to help decision-makers
better understand the nation’s levees, including their location and condition,
according to the database website. Moreover, the database can provide other
benefits, such as supporting community preparedness and quantifying the
nation's flood exposure.
The Corps hosts the database, which contains information on levees managed
by the Corps as well as other entities, such as federal agencies and local
governments. In hosting the database, the Corps works in partnership with the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which populates and
maintains information in the database related to the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP). This program makes flood insurance available to property and
business owners located in communities that participate in the program by
adopting minimum floodplain management standards described in FEMA
regulations.
The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 includes a provision for us to
review the integration and sharing of levee information in the database by the
Corps and FEMA (Pub. L. No. 117-263, § 8236(f), 136 Stat. 2395, 3773). Our
previous work has addressed various aspects of flood risk management,
including Corps benefit and cost studies (GAO-20-43), as well as FEMA’s NFIP
(GAO-23-105977). This report provides information on how the Corps and FEMA
enter, share, and use levee information in the database.
• The Corps and FEMA update data in the National Levee Database on an
ongoing basis, typically in conjunction with the Corps’ scheduled levee
inspections and FEMA’s efforts to assess and map flood risk.
• Data updates regarding levee conditions may not substantially affect NFIP
insurance premiums because (1) the premiums are based on multiple factors,
(2) premiums remain in effect until policies are due for renewal, and (3)
annual increases are generally limited by statute.
• The Corps does not typically rely on data in the National Levee Database for
analyzing the benefits and costs associated with flood risk management
projects. The Corps obtains the information it needs from other entities, such
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Roles and
Responsibilities of Army Corps of Engineers and
FEMA
-25-107340
Report to Congressional Committees
2025
