What is the Blue Flood Zone?

We've been doing a lot of flood insurance throughout the years and we're doing everything we can every day to help property owners be prepared through flood education and awareness.

One of the common questions we get is "what is the blue flood zone in FEMA's flood maps services?". Today, we're going to talk about this blue zone and what it really means when it comes to flood insurance.

Remember, when it comes to flood zones, you have low-risk areas, moderate flood risk, or simply moderate-risk and high-risk flood zones. When it comes to FEMA flood zone maps, you're going to see some areas where it's grayed out or there's a brown area saying it's a minimal flood hazard area. Now, these areas won't be required to carry flood insurance but are still recommended. Now, you'll also see in this flood insurance rate map (FIRM) that there areas that are blue or the blue flood zone. These areas are known as the special flood hazard areas (SFHA).

What is a SFHA?

Special Flood Hazard zones are generally where you'll find high-risk areas like Flood Zone A, Flood Zone AE, or Flood Zone V on the coasts. Generally, these communities fall under the 100-year flood zone. Being in a 100-year floodplain means that the area has around 1% annual flood chance. In a 30-year mortgage, there's around a 26% chance of flooding on your house if you're in these zones.

It's important to note that being in this blue zone doesn't indicate what specific flood zone designation you're in. The sole purpose of it is to highlight the SFHA zones where flood risk is very high. This can be very helpful since blue flood zones generally are close to floodways, maybe there's a river there or any body of water where the risk for flooding can be very high and will eventually impact the surrounding land.

So, this is the blue flood zone, but if you have any questions on flood zone designation, the blue zone, or anything about flood, reach out to us. Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you avoid devastating flood damage through preparation. Click the links below to get started.