Is your home in the old floodplain?
FEMA’s flood maps only go back to the late 1960s. The 1862 flood came a century earlier. Soon you’ll be able to enter an address and see whether it sits where the water has gone before.
We are building the address checker now. It needs map data for the 1862 flood and the old river channels. Check back soon.
What you’ll see.
The 1862 flood area
Whether the address sits where the water stood in 1862.
Old river beds
Channels that carried water in past megafloods, including ones that have since been built over.
Today’s FEMA zone
The current official flood zone, shown alongside for comparison.
Why the official map isn’t the whole picture.
FEMA’s flood maps only go back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are the basis for flood insurance and building codes. Some homes were built in old river beds that those maps don’t show.
This tool is not a forecast and not an insurance determination. For your official flood zone, use FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center.