About Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Flood Zones
What are Flood Insurance Rate Maps?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) identifies flood hazard areas on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). FIRMs are used by FEMA and communities to assess mandatory flood insurance requirements, building code requirements, and floodplain management requirements. FIRMs help communities understand their collective risk. Property owners, insurance agents, and lenders can also use flood maps to determine flood insurance requirements.
FIRMs provide a snapshot of the flood risk at the time the flood studies were done. New land use, community development, or natural forces (changing weather, terrain changes, wildfires) all affect how water flows and drains. FEMA routinely updates FIRMs to reflect changes to flood risks.
What are the types of Flood Insurance Rate Maps?
Florida Division of Emergency Management's (FDEM) Forerunner public site has several FIRMs available:
- Effective FIRMs are the current regulatory maps that are in effect for a community. These maps are used to establish a community's minimum floodplain management and/or building code requirements. Effective FIRMs are also used to determine flood insurance requirements.
- Preliminary FIRMs provide the public with an early look at their home or community’s projected risk to flood hazards. Before they become effective, the preliminary products go through a formal review period that provides the opportunity to appeal the preliminary determinations with better data. These maps help to determine what zone a property will be in once the maps go into effect.
- Historic FIRMs are maps that were previously used in a community, but have since been updated with newer effective FIRMs. These maps may be used to understand changes to flood risk over time and to determine what zone a building was built in when it was originally constructed.
What are Flood Zones?
Flood zones are a defined geographic area with a specific flood hazard risk. They represent the probability and impact of flooding in that area. Flood zones are shown collectively on FIRMs.
There are five flood zones: low risk, moderate risk, high risk, coastal high risk, and undetermined risk. On a Flood Insurance Rate Map, they are labeled as the following:
- Low Risk: B & X
- Moderate Risk: C & X
- High Risk: beginning with A
- Coastal High Risk: V, VE
- Undetermined Risk: D
In zones beginning with A and V, homeowners and businesses with federally backed mortgages must purchase flood insurance. Every zone carries a flood risk; it’s just a matter of how big the risk is.
1 in 3 flood insurance claims come from low- and moderate-risk zones. And “undetermined risk” does not mean “no risk.” It means analysis has not yet been completed. Therefore, though not mandatory by law, insurance is strongly recommended for these zones, for a quick and subsidized recovery and to qualify for future risk claims.
For more information, visit: www.floodsmart.gov/flood-zones-and-maps
How do I view the Flood Zones map layer?
From the Forerunner FDEM home page, click "Explore Map." Once in the map viewer, the Effective FIRM layer is available by clicking the Map Layers button in the bottom right hand corner of the map viewer. The layer can be found under the "Flood Layers" subheading. Click the toggle to the right of the layer name to turn the layer on or off.