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<br />e <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />.- <br /> <br />WHEN IS A FLOOD A FLOOD? <br /> <br />A flood as described in the American Heritage dictionary is an overflowing of water onto <br />land that is normally dry. <br /> <br />A flood (of water) can originate from such sources as: <br />.' A dam rupture or leak <br />. A snow melt <br />. R~in falling from the sky <br />. C oasta! storm surge <br /> <br />Under an 1\fflP flood insurance policy, flooding begins at the moment the insured building <br />is first couched by flood waters associated with a general condition of flooding in the area_ <br />To qualify as a general condition of flooding, the flood must affect two or more adjacent <br />propel1ies, or two or more acres' if the water is confined to the lot on which the insured <br />building is located. Also the occurrence must inundate normally dry land_ <br /> <br />The] CO-year floodplain is the area that would be flooded by the I DO-year flood_ The <br />I aD-year floodplain is a conventional measure of flood vulnerability and is used by FE~i;\ <br />as the basis for requirements in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)- The 100- <br />year t100d is a statistical approximation saying that over many, many centuries such a <br />flood will occur on the average of once every 100 years_ It has a 1% chance of being <br />equaled or exceeded in anyone year. Two points are important: I) Floods much larger <br />than the 100-year flood can and do occur, and 2) It is possible for a I DO-year flood to <br />OCCllr I wo or three years in a row_ It has the same probability of occurring each year. <br /> <br />FEI\ fA provides flood-prone communities with maps showing the 100-year floodplain_ <br />These maps are called Flood Insurance Rate Maps or FIRM's. Zone A on the map is the <br />] OO-ycar floodplain. The numbers shown in Zone A are elevations above sea level. Zone <br />B is tbe SOD-year floodplain and Zone e is outside the SOD-year floodplain_ FEMA <br />mapping created after 1988, describe the "B" and "e" zones as "X" zones_ Interestingly. <br />more than 30% of the flood insurance claims have been for damage to properties outside <br />Zone .--\. Vulnerability to floods does not stop at the 100-year flood line or even the 500- <br />year flood line. <br /> <br />3 <br />