FEMA Flood Zone Help

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Panel

Official map of a community, on which the Administrator has delineated both the special flood hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community. The Panel is an index to the paper maps.

Floodway

The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height.

Special Flood Hazard Area SFHA

An area that has a 1-percent chance of being flooded in any given year (100-year floodplain). Over a 30-year period, the life of most mortgages, there is at least a 26-percent chance that this area will be flooded. The FIRM identifies these areas as FIRM Zones A, AO, AH, A1-A30, AE, A99, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, AR/AO, V, V1-V30, and VE.

Flood Zone

See SFHA. Zones that begin with the letters V and A are in the SFHA. Zones B, C, D, or X are within the floodplain but not in the SFHA and, therefore, are not considered to be areas requiring flood insurance for structures located in those areas.

A	No Base Flood Elevations determined.
AE	Base Flood Elevations determined.
VE	Coastal flood zone with velocity hazard (wave action); Base Flood Elevations determined.
X	Areas determined to be outside the 0.2% annual chance floodplain.
D	Areas in which flood hazards are undetermined, but possible.

FIPS

COBRA

Undeveloped communities, coastal barriers, and other protected areas designated as subject to certain coverage restrictions. These areas were identified by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982 (CBRA) and the Coastal Barrier Improvement Act of 1990 and are shown on appropriate FIRM panels.

Community

A 6-digit designation identifying each NFIP community. The first two numbers are the state code. The next four are the FIA-assigned community number. An alphabetical suffix is added to a community number to identify revisions in the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) for that community.

Base Flood Elevation (ft.)

The elevation shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) for Zones AE, AH, A1-A30, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, AR/AO, V1-V30, and VE that indicates the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a 1-percent or greater chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.