Am I in a Flood Hazard Area?

Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) are shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) as Zone A, AE, AH, AO or A 1- 30.   FIRM maps can be viewed at the municipal office but they can also be found online at the FEMA Map Service Center

Most Vermont communities have FIRMs and some communities have an officially-digital version called the Digital FIRM or DFIRM.  DFIRMs are available in Chittenden, Rutland, Washington, Windham, and Windsor Counties and for several towns (Bradford, Hardwick, Jay, Montgomery, Newbury, Wolcott, and Stowe).

DFIRMs can be viewed at:

FEMA Flood Map Viewer , OR

Vermont Natural Resources Atlas at  tinyurl.com/vt-flood 

and using the Google Earth kmz file available at the FEMA Map Service Center).

Preliminary DFIRM data is now available for Bennington County (5/18/12) and the Town of Richmond (9/11/13).   

Preliminary DFIRM data can be viewed at the municipal office or found online at the Vermont Natural Resources Atlas. 

To view the Preliminary DFIRM data in the Atlas

1.      Use Quick Tools to search for a street address

2.      Find the best result in the list and click on it, the choose Zoom to Feature

3.      Click on Map Layers (shown as a stack of green, red and gray layers at the bottom of the screen).

4.      Click on the "+" sign next to the Watershed Protection  Layers

5.      Click on the empty box next to Special Flood Hazard Areas (Preliminary DFIRM)  Layer

6.      Click on the gray box beside that layer to reveal the Legend

To print or save a map:

1.      Click on the Map Tools icon (wrench and screwdriver) in upper right corner of screen.

2.      Click on Print Map (it will automatically incorporate a legend and scale bar).  You can choose to “print” (save) a pdf or jpg version and then email or print that image.

Non-DFIRM Maps (FIRMs and FHBMs)

Where the community does not have an official DFIRM you can view the current data online and make a FIRMette (a small version of the official data).  FIRM maps do not have an aerial image in the background so you must include features such as intersections from which to measure and plot the location of your building.

To find a FIRM use the Product Catalog.   Then click on Get Current FEMA Issued Flood Maps.

In the list of maps the map ending in INDO (eg 500001IND0 ) is the index or map of map panels.   Once you have your bearings on the map panel you can open the correct panel and Make a FIRMette, and save it as a pdf or tif.

Need Map Help?

FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX)

FEMA Map Specialist 1-877-FEMA-MAP,   FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com

Structures in the Special Flood Hazard Area (Zone A, AE, A1-30, AO, AH) have more than a 1 in 4 chance of being exposed to a flood during a 30 year mortgage.  

FEMA's Floodsmart website has information about flood insurance and a tool to estimate flood damage for a structure built on a slab.