Are You in a Flood Zone

2/13/2024 (Permalink)

If you’re in the process of buying a house or you’re looking for a new homeowners insurance policy, you might be familiar with what a flood zone is and the importance behind knowing your coverage.

Zoning for Floods?

A flood zone is an area in a specific geographical space that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has determined has a risk of flooding. There are four primary types of zones, which correlate to the severity or category of excessive water events that can occur in that area.

• Moderate to Low-Risk Areas
• High-Risk Areas
• High Risk – Coastal Areas
• Undetermined Risk Areas

How to Find Your Zone

Each area’s zones are depicted on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map, also known as FIRM, which can be found online at https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-rate-map-firm. You can also contact your local municipality or look on their website, most cities will have zoning information available online. You can try searching for the term “flood elevation certificate” for faster results. 

Some people may think that these zones can only be found next to a large body of water or along a river or stream, but that’s not the case. Houses that are nowhere near a body of water can experience a flood if there’s a large rainstorm. It varies on slope of properties and other variable factors.

Emergency Preparedness

Knowing what kind of flood zone you live in can also be helpful for storage options and emergency preparedness. If you live in a high-risk zone, for example, you probably don’t want to put boxes directly on the floor, but rather on a shelf. It may be high priority to increase the number of your emergency supplies. 

If you weren’t aware that your home is potentially at risk for a flood, and a storm causes water-related damage, you should contact a storm damage specialist in your area to determine your best course of action and get the damage repaired as quickly as possible. 

If you have flood water enter into your home, feel free to reach out us, so we can help assist you to make it "Like it Never Even Happened".