Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 20:21     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The rating is for the entire property (and over the long term so it may be a risk estimated over the next 30 years). Older builders were not idiots and typically built on the highest elevation part of any parcel. So your house may be fine while an edge of the property may get water and it will still have a flood warning. If that is the case you can just explain when selling. You can get a land survey and argue with the rater for an adjustment but I don't know how effective that is.


+1

Friends of mine bought a home way up on a hill. Because a corner of their large lot is in a flood prone area they get rated as having a high flood risk even though there would have to be biblical levels of rain to begin to reach them.

Any remotely intelligent buyer/agent will be able to read in the listing description that the flood rating covers the parcel and see the house is built up higher.

For my friends’ house, I think the steep driveway would be more of a turnoff for buyers than the flood rating.


Your friend got bad info. Only the structure on the property that is partially within the flood zone is required to be covered by flood insurance.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 14:14     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The rating is for the entire property (and over the long term so it may be a risk estimated over the next 30 years). Older builders were not idiots and typically built on the highest elevation part of any parcel. So your house may be fine while an edge of the property may get water and it will still have a flood warning. If that is the case you can just explain when selling. You can get a land survey and argue with the rater for an adjustment but I don't know how effective that is.


+1

Friends of mine bought a home way up on a hill. Because a corner of their large lot is in a flood prone area they get rated as having a high flood risk even though there would have to be biblical levels of rain to begin to reach them.

Any remotely intelligent buyer/agent will be able to read in the listing description that the flood rating covers the parcel and see the house is built up higher.

For my friends’ house, I think the steep driveway would be more of a turnoff for buyers than the flood rating.


But depending on the type of soil, if the corner of their property floods, it might lead to slope instability which would impact the house. It's not just about "is my house higher than the flood?"
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 13:06     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



What do the green zones mean? There are awfully a lot of them around everywhere


I think the green zones mean potential flooding. There is no key which is weird but I spent a good amount of time looking at this map and the green zones correlate pretty strongly with the first street flood map, not not entirely.


Is lighter green higher elevation than dark green? My house is in a light green zone with some darker green neighborhoods around me. I wish there was a key.


https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/TopographicMapSymbols/topomapsymbols.pdf

If that is the right key, the green areas mean either marsh or vegetation. I think dark is very dense?
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 09:48     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



What do the green zones mean? There are awfully a lot of them around everywhere


I think the green zones mean potential flooding. There is no key which is weird but I spent a good amount of time looking at this map and the green zones correlate pretty strongly with the first street flood map, not not entirely.


Is lighter green higher elevation than dark green? My house is in a light green zone with some darker green neighborhoods around me. I wish there was a key.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 09:37     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:The rating is for the entire property (and over the long term so it may be a risk estimated over the next 30 years). Older builders were not idiots and typically built on the highest elevation part of any parcel. So your house may be fine while an edge of the property may get water and it will still have a flood warning. If that is the case you can just explain when selling. You can get a land survey and argue with the rater for an adjustment but I don't know how effective that is.


+1

Friends of mine bought a home way up on a hill. Because a corner of their large lot is in a flood prone area they get rated as having a high flood risk even though there would have to be biblical levels of rain to begin to reach them.

Any remotely intelligent buyer/agent will be able to read in the listing description that the flood rating covers the parcel and see the house is built up higher.

For my friends’ house, I think the steep driveway would be more of a turnoff for buyers than the flood rating.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 08:21     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:FEMA maps are notoriously out of date, OP. Do NOT put any faith in them.

I believe you are at higher risk of flooding based on the proximity of the storm drain. It's hard for you to accept this, but with the higher frequency of more extreme weather events, that storm drain is a risk to your property. You may be on slightly higher ground, but when (not if) the water rises 30 feet in 3 hours, you won't be scoffing anymore.

Before FEMA updates its map for your area, you might want to sell. That's what people check, usually, and a flood-prone property is unsaleable.



This isn’t true. And even if you’re in a flood prone area, it’s not necessarily a problem. Don’t panic.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 07:54     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



What do the green zones mean? There are awfully a lot of them around everywhere


I think the green zones mean potential flooding. There is no key which is weird but I spent a good amount of time looking at this map and the green zones correlate pretty strongly with the first street flood map, not not entirely.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 01:26     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



What do the green zones mean? There are awfully a lot of them around everywhere
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 01:12     Subject: High flood factor what to do
We were posted in a country where the government wasn’t allowed to publish flood maps because they were afraid of doing harm to property values. That was so harmful to everyone-owners, mortgage providers, safety officials.

You can hire someone to look at the data and explain it to you. Would be worthwhile to understand whether the risk is correctly assessed as you seem more worried about a potential hit to your property value than the risk that you/your belongings/your family will be washed away in a flood.
Anonymous
Post 07/24/2025 01:09     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just discovered that my house is rated 7/10 on the First Street flood factor that shows up on redfin. We bought the house about 3 years ago and I definitely do not remember it being rated that way then.

I have no idea what they base this stuff on but it seems inaccurate. My neighbors are all rated 1. We have had massive rain this year and we have never had water running or pooling near the house. Our old house which was at the bottom of a neighborhood hill had way more water issues and it is rated a 1/10. The only thing I can think of is that we have a storm drain easement on our property so there is a lot of water running out of that drain into the creek behind us but this drain is like 100 feet downwards from our house draining away. We are maybe 600 feet away from the creek, so not that close.

Question is, is there anything I can do? It seems so sketchy that this company gets to "predict" flooding and then ruin home values. Are we just screwed with our home value?


“storm drain easement” and “creek 600 feet away” are red flags. Small streams are very likely to flood during atmospheric river events and there are parts of the dc metro area that are prone to atmospheric rivers. Do you have flood insurance?


It all depends on overall topography because areas that appear to be lower if you are inside a neighborhood may in reality have higher elevation compared to the nearby areas, so water from the streams at higher elevation would flow into the streams at lower elevations, which isn't a part of the local map necessarily or even not a part of a specific neighborhood. If you walk around with a compass that has elevation reading you will know what I mean. You may see a hill and then walk to a lower area to see that they are at the same elevation overall or flat area may appear higher than a hill 2 blocks away. Hilly areas can be tricky.

Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 23:41     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



With the EPA potentially ending its ability to fight climate change and the horror we collectively witnessed in Texas recently I would really encourage you to do what you can now to understand your risk and protect your assets and your family. Vermont experienced horrible flooding a few years ago and it was totally unprecedented.

IMO there are more levers to pull to prevent fire from reaching your house than flood when it comes to things like removing vegetation, using certain building materials, removing kindling and leaves from the neighborhood landscape regularly, and even installing more fire hydrants.

I would strongly suggest flood insurance. It looks like the federal government (FEMA) will do significantly less in the coming years and states can only do so much.



Yeah, the problem is that the insurance companies are going to bail before you need it. And the federal government won't be there to make them come back. Stay far, far away from flood zones.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 23:15     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:First street predicts the ritz in Georgetown has a 20% chance of flooding this year....

And apparently large parts of AU park are in food zone.


We sold our Dupont English basement condo despite it being terrifically located and easy to rent out because flood maps said it would be under water in the next 20 years. We didn’t want to be stuck with it.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 23:11     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/



With the EPA potentially ending its ability to fight climate change and the horror we collectively witnessed in Texas recently I would really encourage you to do what you can now to understand your risk and protect your assets and your family. Vermont experienced horrible flooding a few years ago and it was totally unprecedented.

IMO there are more levers to pull to prevent fire from reaching your house than flood when it comes to things like removing vegetation, using certain building materials, removing kindling and leaves from the neighborhood landscape regularly, and even installing more fire hydrants.

I would strongly suggest flood insurance. It looks like the federal government (FEMA) will do significantly less in the coming years and states can only do so much.

Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 15:59     Subject: Re:High flood factor what to do
I don't think a storm drain 100ft away and a dried up stream 600 feet away is all that unusual for the less densely populated areas of MoCo. But the point is, this model predicts there is a 20% chance this year that half my land will flood when it has never happened in recorded history, so color me skeptical. I know everyone is worried about climate change but this seems like hysteria.

Anyways I found this neat elevator map for anyone interested. Really helpful to just point somewhere on a map and it gives the elevation.
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/

Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 13:51     Subject: High flood factor what to do
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Look at federal flood maps, they’ll explain everything.

It’s probably based on probability and your neighbors may be on one side of a line that says 51 out of 100 times their house is okay and your is on the side that says 51 out of 100 it’s not - basically the same risk but you’re on the wrong side of the line.

Either way, there’s no way you can tell if something is right or wrong without looking at federal flood maps. It’s not a thing you can feel.


Federal flood maps have not been updated and are outdated, which is a big problem with erosion, climate change, and better forecasting capabilities.

The First Street assessment should provide you with information about this risk as it relates to your property, OP.


But to be clear, when we talk about federal maps being out-of-date, we're not talking about how maybe things have gotten better... assume your situation is worse than what the map shows. Best case it might be the same.