New Maps in Bennington County!

The long-anticipated Bennington County Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map became effective 12/2/2015.  The data can now be found online at:

• FEMA Map Service Center www.msc.fema.gov 
• Flood Ready Atlas tinyurl.com/floodreadyatlas (Html 5); 
• Vermont Natural Resource Atlas tinyurl.com/vt-floodmap  (Silverlight).

The FEMA Map Service Center allows users to search by address and find the effective and historic flood maps for any location.  The MSC also has the Flood Insurance Study and Letters of Map Amendment.  Outside of the areas with Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps the MSC has scanned copies of the “white/paper” FIRMs.

The Vermont Natural Resource Atlas has two online platforms.  The Html 5 version can be used by all computers and browsers.  The Silverlight version requires Internet Explorer and a PC that can load the Microsoft Silverlight software (a fairly quick process).

Where there are DFIRMs available, the MSC allows users to download GIS versions of the Special Flood Hazard Areas and other vector data.

The Vermont Center for Geographic Information will also post the GIS data later this month.

On the Flood Ready Atlas you can find a specialized layer for Flood Hazard Mapping that shows areas of Vermont with effective DFIRMs.

With the process in Bennington County completed no other flood map updates are scheduled by FEMA in Vermont.  This leaves large areas of the state with old maps needing attention.  Any future map work by FEMA will be handled through the RiskMAP approach.  RiskMAP uses a HUC-8 watershed boundary as the basis of map updates.  This would be the equivalent of the Missisquoi or Passumpsic River watersheds.

September 1 and 2 Bennington County - Flood Insurance Meetings

The Bennington County maps showing high risk flood hazard areas will officially change on December 2. Two open house events are scheduled for people that want to learn more about flood risk, flood insurance and the effect of the map update.  

Is your house or business in a hazard area?   This is a particularly important question for buildings that are identified as at a high risk on the December map but not at high risk on the older map.

FEMA Flood Information Open House Events are scheduled for:

• Tuesday September 1, 4-6:30 pm Manchester at the Spiral Press Café, 15 Bonnet Street, and
• Wednesday September 2, 4 -7 pm Bennington at the Bennington Free Library, 101 Silver Street

At these events Bennington county residents can meet one-on-one with Federal and State officials to identify if their building is in a Special Flood Hazard Area.   FEMA insurance specialists will be on hand to discuss flood insurance requirements and opportunities to make your building safer and less costly to insure.

Getting insurance now, before the map change to “grandfather the old zone” may be an important opportunity in situations where the older maps show a building to be outside the Special Flood Hazard Area and the new map shows it in.

The new December 2015 flood maps can be viewed on the Flood Ready Atlas: tinyurl.com/floodreadyatlas .   Use Flood Ready Tools to “Find Address” and “Toggle Flood Data On”.  

The older maps can be viewed on FEMA’s Map Service Center www.msc.fema.gov .

These open house events for flood resiliency are provided to help residents understand flood risks as shown on the new Bennington County Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map and to take steps to reduce the risk of flood damage to families, buildings and communities.

Live in Bennington County? Check the New Flood Map! (6/9/15)

Live in Bennington County? - Check the New Flood Map !

On December 2, 2015 the new Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map will go into effect covering Bennington County, Vermont.  If you live in or near a floodplain you should check the map to see what level of risk has been identified for your building.

The Special Flood Hazard Areas (Zone A and AE) on the new Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) can be viewed on the Flood Ready Atlas tinyurl.com/floodreadyatlas.   Choose "Flood Ready Tools" then "Zoom to Address" and "Toggle Flood Data On".

Special Flood Hazard Areas include areas with a 1% annual chance of flooding.  This is more than a 1 in 4 chance over the period of a 30 year mortgage.  Some parts of the mapped floodplain get flooded more frequently and are subject to high velocity flows.

The current FIRMs (made town by town) will expire in December.  They can be viewed online (as .pdfs) at the FEMA Map Service Center www.msc.fema.gov   You can make a small official FIRMette map and plot the location of your building from mapped road intersections.

Check the maps to determine if your building is at risk of damage from the base flood.   Federal law requires lenders to ensure that any mortgages or loans to buildings in the high risk SFHA have insurance to at least cover the mortgage, the value of the building, or the total amount available from the National Flood Insurance Program (whichever is lowest).

If your building was built before the first municipal Flood Insurance Rate Map (late 1970's), and your structure will become identified as being at high risk for the first time, you should learn about "grandfathering your flood zone".  To grandfather your flood zone you would need to buy a flood insurance policy before the map change and then maintain the policy going forward.  This would give you an opportunity to grandfather the lower risk / lower cost Zone X status on the basis of "continuity of coverage".

There will be public meetings in the fall to discuss flood insurance, grandfathering, and how to make buildings less vulnerable to damage and less costly to insure.

Bennington County has over 600 families as well as educational, government and critical facilities in the high risk flood zone.

Across the county (and the state) the Town of Bennington has the most structures in the Special Flood Hazard Area, around 480 (8% of all buildings in town).

Overall there seem to be around 450 buildings that may be indicated as in the high risk flood hazard area (Zone A, AE, AO) for the first time.  Approximately 350 have been newly identified as in the low to moderate risk Zone X.

The towns with the most structures that have been newly identified as at high risk include Bennington, Pownal, Arlington, Manchester and Dorset.

Watch for updates regarding insurance meetings in the fall.

Bennington County - Appeal Period for Flood Hazard Maps

A new/second appeal period for the Bennington County flood hazard maps will begin next week and continue for ninety days until February 10, 2015.

The Preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) can be viewed online at the FEMA Map Service Center.   The currently effective FIRM maps can also be found on the MSC.  You can search by address to find the correct map, however the currently effective maps do not have an aerial photograph in the background.

The Preliminary DFIRM data can also be found on the VT ANR Natural Resource Atlas tinyurl.com/vt-floodmap   Use “Quick Tools” to “Zoom to Town” or “Find an Address”.

Here is some FEMA information that may be of use:

• Understanding the Changes to Your Community’s Flood Insurance Rate Map.
• Expanded Appeals Process fact sheet.
• Criteria for Appeals of Flood Insurance Rate Maps

This is the last formal window for communities to make minor corrections or to supply scientific or technical data that would replace the information in the Preliminary Flood Insurance Study and DFIRM.   Communities that receive appeals and supporting data from individuals should consolidate and review any appeal data from individuals.   Whether or not the community chooses to appeal please send copies of individual appeals and supporting data to:

Justin King, Project Manager Stantec, 5565 Centerview Drive, Suite 107; Raleigh, NC 27606 

After February and any appropriate changes, there will Letter of Final Determination and a six-month adoption period.  It is likely that the Bennington County DFIRM will become effective next fall.

This is a very good time to look at the Preliminary DFIRM data to better understand inundation flood risks near your location.

For more information on the flood hazard maps, appeals and Letters of Map Amendment please contact a FEMA Map Specialist at

The FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX).

FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com

(877) FEMA MAP (1-877-336-2627)

After the data becomes effective changes can still be made through the Letter of Map Change process. 

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.