Base flood elevation bfe the elevation of surface water resulting from a flood that has a 1 chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year.
Flood zone base plane first floor.
Sfhas are labeled as zone a zone ao zone ah zones a1 a30 zone ae zone a99 zone ar zone ar ae zone ar ao zone ar a1 a30 zone ar a zone v zone ve and zones v1 v30.
Electrical heating ventilation plumbing air conditioning equipment and other service facilities must be elevated to or above the bfe.
The base flood is also referred to as the 1 percent annual chance flood or 100 year flood.
This could cause a drastic decrease in flood insurance premiums.
Dwelling located in an a zone any flood zone beginning with the letter a has an attached garage floor elevation at or above the base flood elevation bfe the garage floor may be excluded for rating.
Flood mapping is an important part of the national flood insurance program nfip as it is the basis of the nfip regulations and flood insurance requirements.
For example if you have an above grade crawlspace and you have flood vents then you maybe able to count this as the lowest rated floor.
See you home on the official fema flood maps.
In many situations this will be the first rated floor.
Fema defines the base flood elevation bfe as the computed elevation to which the flood is anticipated to rise during the base flood.
An attached garage floor elevation below the bfe can be excluded as the lowest floor for rating if the garage.
The lowest floor elevation must be at or above the base flood elevation bfe.
The next elevation to review will be c2 section b which is the top of the next highest floor.
The 1 percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100 year flood.
There is at least a one in four chance of flooding during a 30 year mortgage.
Get a flood zone review from a map specialist.
The bfe is shown on the flood insurance rate map firm for zones ae ah a1 a30 ar ar a ar ae ar a1 a30 ar ah ar ao v1 v30 and ve.
Just in case those terms are new to you the 1 percent annual chance flood means that statistically there s a 1 chance every year that there will be a flood that looks.
Fema maintains and updates data through flood maps and risk assessments.
Zone a unnumbered high flooding risk because detailed analyses are not performed for such areas no depths or base flood elevations are shown within these zones.
Fema s flood mapping program is called risk mapping assessment and planning or risk map.