Flood Zone’s Explained
When FEMA determines if a particular area is in danger of flooding in the future they will go as little reviews a certain area for risk of flood their threshold requirement is as low as 1%.
High Risk Flood Areas
Flood hazard areas identified on the Flood Insurance Rate Map are identified as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). SFHA are defined as the area that will be inundated by the flood event having a 1-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The 1-percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100-year flood. Most properties will fall into the standard AE and VE SFHA zones. However, you may see a different version of the two zones, such as AO, A99, or V1 but these fall under the main zones AE and VE.
Moderate or Low Risk Flood Areas
Moderate flood hazard areas, labeled Zone X are the areas between the limits of the base flood and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (or 500-year) flood. The areas of minimal flood hazard, which are the areas outside the SFHA and higher than the elevation of the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood, are labeled Zone C or Zone X (unshaded).
If you have a question about what zone you may be in give us a call or email, or ask your current agent. We can look up and provide a flood determination that will show what zone your property is in.