FEMA Floodplain Maps- EFFECTIVE June
18, 2007
 General Floodplain Information
How can it be determined if a home is in the floodplain?
Floodplain maps are a product of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and copies of these maps can be found
on their website www.fema.gov.
Additional information can be obtained by contacting you local
floodplain administrator in the city in which you live or, for
unincorporated Harris County, at the Harris County Permits
office. While the maps will show your property's relationship to
the flood plain, you should also consider hiring a surveyor to
determine the elevation of your home relative to the Base Flood
(100-year) elevation. This information is useful in determining
a property's risk of flooding and in determining flood insurance
requirements and rates.
What to Do if the New Floodplain Maps Do Not Identify
Increased Risk for Your Property
Consider the facts: Tropical Storm Allison dropped up to 35
inches of rain in some part of Harris County, with 28 of those
inches falling in 12 hours. As a result, approximately
two-thirds of the areas that flooded were outside the 1%
(100-year) floodplain. That is a floodplain occurring from
rainfall that has 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any
given year, as depicted on the FIRM (or floodplain) map.
Additionally, approximately 64,000 property owners who did not
carry flood insurance during Tropical Storm Allison experienced
flooding.
Put simply, even if you have never flooded before or the new
floodplain maps do not identify you as being at a high risk, it
is strongly recommended that you purchase flood insurance.
What is a floodplain?
FEMA defines a floodplain as "Any land area that is
susceptible to being inundated by water from any source." In
Harris County, a floodplain is generally defined as an area
flooded due to either a channel's capacity being exceeded or due
to a tidal storm surge.
The FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps show my house is outside
of the flood zone - do I really need flood insurance?
Everyone needs flood insurance! Just because your home is not
mapped within the 100-year flood plain does not mean that you
are free from the potential to flood. FEMA Flood Insurance Rate
Maps (FIRMs) show areas subject to flooding from a primary
flooding source, typically major rivers, bayous and their
tributaries, and are meant to help determine the risk of
flooding for a property. However, flooding from sources that are
not identified on the FIRMs is possible and occurs often in
Harris County. Many homes flood because excess storm water
cannot drain into a storm drainage system fast enough to prevent
localized ponding from reaching the inside of a home. On a
national basis, one-third of the flood loss claims are from
property located outside of the mapped 1% (100-year) flood
plain. To learn how to purchase a flood insurance policy, visit
the National Flood Insurance Website,
www.fema.gov/nfip/ or
contact your insurance agent. You may also click here for more
information within this website about flood insurance.
If new floodplain maps are being developed now, are the
old maps wrong?
FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps are estimates. The existing
maps use technology that was current at the time in which those
maps were developed. The new maps are using today's
state-of-the-art technology. The existing maps are good
estimates of where the floodplain exists, but the new maps will
improve upon the estimates.
You are encouraged to visit one of the
following web sites
Tropical Storm
Allison Recovery Project (TSARP)
TSARP
Information sheet- How to Use the FEMA Website
16225 Park Ten Place, Suite 420
Houston, Texas 77084
(281) 579-4656
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20472
(202)646-4600
Harris County
Flood Control District
9900 Northwest Freeway
Houston, Texas 77092
(713)684-4000
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