ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) -- While our neighbors in the southeast of the country continue to evaluate the damage of recent hurricanes Milton and Helene, a national spotlight has turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and subsequently, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). "In this country, it's interesting that insurance is also run by the government so basically the Federal Gov't, FEMA, run the National Flood Insurance program, the NFIP," says Qing Miao, an Associate Professor on Public Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Miao has been conducting research surrounding FEMA's setup and structure for years. She explains there are two programs under FEMA; one (public assistance) is designed for municipalities and local entities to rebuild lost infrastructure, roads , bridges, etc. The second is for individuals, renters, homeowners, businesses, etc. The way insurance works, however, is also subsidized by FEMA, which has faced criticism over outdated maps, data and a lack of accurate reflection of risk. "In some areas you know homeowner they pay a relatively lower insurance premium but their risk is much higher than the premium they are paying so this actually provided very bad incentive to you know allowing more people to stay in the flood zones and once a big event happens then they actually you know will experience a lot of damage," Miao says. "The effective flood hazard mapping for the county currently consists of paper-based mapping products that are overdue for an update to say the least," says John Trevor Cone, Senior Engineer for FEMA's Region 2 (covering Ontario and Wayne Counties in our viewing area). He's part of the Mitigation Division Risk Analysis Branch. Cone specifies, even prior to last summer's '100 year flooding event' in Canandaigua, efforts to bring maps to reflect current topography and geography were getting underway. "So the preliminary mapping data that was issued recently represents updates to available input data sets that support new engineering analysis and can be delivered as digital mapping products for the first time," says Cone. "What we experienced more recently is the small microburst that will inundate a stream or tributary like the one we had last year with Suckerbrook," says Thomas Harvey, Director of Planning for Ontario County. "We probably had a 100 year to 500 storm event just localized in that one stream and that's a big impact on a lot of the municipalities and we're seeing that more frequently," he adds. "In the disaster world we should think more about mitigation and preparedness; you mentioned about preparedness. This is actually the most important thing because a lot of research showing that - and also even in my own - in preparedness funding and also mitigation funding can play a huge roll in preventing future disaster damages," Miao says. The 90-day comment period for Ontario County's new FEMA maps is set to lead up to the end of the year. Details can be found here.