FEMA Floodplain Maps and Your Property in Syracuse

What is a FEMA floodplain map, and what does it show?

A FEMA floodplain map shows the flood hazard for a set of locations, including the Special Flood Hazard Area, which is the part of the floodplain with the highest chance of flooding in a given year. The map is published in panels, and each panel covers a small area.

The map is a planning and regulatory tool. It sets the zone that local floodplain rules use, and it is the reference for certain insurance purchases. It does not promise that a property outside the zone will stay dry, since water can come from storms and drainage that the map does not model.

The panel is the sheet that covers a particular address. Each panel has a number, and the number is the reference a city office, an insurer or a lender will ask for. Recording the number in your file saves a search later.

How do you find the panel for your address?

Use FEMA's flood map service with the street address to find the panel that covers the property. Then compare the panel with the list of maps on the City of Syracuse floodplain page, which names the maps the city uses for its streams and the lake.

Enter the full address into the flood map service and read the panel number and the zone it shows. If the address does not return a panel, check the spelling and try the nearest intersection, then confirm the result with the office that issues floodplain permits.

Print or save the panel and its date, and keep them with the deed or the policy. A panel that changes later should be checked again, and the older version kept, since a repair may be judged against the map that was in force when it was planned.

How do you read the zone labels on a panel?

Each panel carries a legend that explains its zone labels. Read the legend for the panel that covers your address, because the label for the zone is what the floodplain office and the insurer will use, and the label alone does not tell you what the repair requires.

The panel shows the flood zone of each area with a label, and the legend at the edge of the sheet explains each label. The legend also shows the base flood elevation where it is set, which is a reference line for the design of a repair. An owner who reads only the colour or the shading misses that information.

Ask the floodplain office to explain the label and the base flood elevation for your address. The office applies the rules for that zone, and its explanation is the reference to keep in the file alongside the panel.

What changed in Syracuse with the 2016 maps?

FEMA's 2016 maps expanded the Special Flood Hazard Area on Onondaga Creek in Syracuse by 175 acres and added hundreds of residential and commercial structures to the regulated floodplain. A property that was not regulated before may now be inside the area.

The change is a matter of the map and not of the building. A house that was not regulated before can now be subject to floodplain rules when it is repaired, and the owner should expect those rules to shape the work.

The city attributes its higher flood risk on Onondaga Creek to lower channel capacity from sediment and to more intense short-duration storms. The maps are the regulatory record of that risk, so the owner should treat the panel as the starting point for the rebuild.

Which office answers floodplain permit questions?

The office that issues floodplain permits for the address answers the questions about the standards for a repair. The sourced material for this guide does not name the City of Syracuse office for each address, so the owner should ask the city which office covers the property.

Ask the office for the rules that apply to the zone, the thresholds for substantial damage and the permit steps for the repair. Keep the answer in writing, since the rules can change and a verbal answer is hard to rely on later.

If the property sits in a separate town or village rather than the city, the question goes to that municipality's office. The panel tells you which zone applies, but the permit office tells you what the zone requires.

What does a floodplain zone mean for a repair?

Inside the Special Flood Hazard Area, a repair may need a floodplain permit, and the standards can require the lowest floor to be raised or the materials below the flood level to be flood-resistant. Outside it, the rules are lighter but the risk of water is not zero.

A permit reviews the design against the standards for the zone. The office may require the repair to meet specific elevation or material rules, and it may treat a substantial repair differently from a small one.

This guide does not state the thresholds or the standards, since the sourced material does not give them. The permit office applies them to the property, and the owner should ask for the rule in writing before the design is finished.

How does the map affect insurance?

The map affects the flood questions an insurer asks, but the policy decides the claim. Standard homeowner policies often exclude flood water unless a separate flood policy or endorsement is held, so the zone and the policy should be checked together.

Ask the insurer whether the property's zone changes the flood coverage available, and ask for the answer in writing. The insurer may also ask for the panel number at the time of a claim, so keep it with the policy.

For a dispute about how the claim is handled, the New York State Department of Financial Services is the state regulator for insurers.

What should you keep for a future sale or refinance?

Keep the panel record, the permit answers, the drying readings and the repair papers in one file. A buyer or lender who asks about the floodplain status can then see the map, the answer and the work done.

A dated panel record shows the zone at the time it was checked. The permit answer shows the rules that applied to a repair, and the drying readings show the work done after a water event.

Keep the file current. Each new map revision, each permit and each water event should be added with its date, so the file reflects the property's history rather than a single moment.

• The FEMA panel number and zone, with the date checked
• The permit office's written answer on the rules for the address
• Drying readings and photographs from any water event
• Repair permits and the invoices for the work

What if you think the map is wrong for your property?

A map that seems to place a property in the wrong zone can be questioned, but the request is made through the process FEMA sets for map changes, and the local floodplain office can explain how to start it. The owner should not assume a map is wrong until the property's own survey and elevation data have been checked.

A property owner can ask FEMA to review a map that appears to be wrong for a particular property, and the request is supported by survey and elevation information. That process takes time, and the owner should keep the panel as it stood until a change is confirmed in writing.

While a request is pending, the rules that apply are the ones on the current panel. A repair planned on a hope that the map will change may not meet the rules that apply on the day the work is inspected.

How should a Syracuse owner read the map against the building?

Read the map against the building itself, not only the address. The lowest floor, the entry points and the grade of the yard decide how water would reach the house, and the panel decides the rules for repair. Both are needed to plan a rebuild that will hold up to the next event.

Measure or note the height of the lowest floor relative to the street and the yard, and record the entry points on the lake, creek or street side of the building. These facts do not come from the map, but they tell the owner how a flood would reach the house. A crew's water-line marks can add a measured reference after an event.

Bring the panel, the entry notes and the water-line photographs to the floodplain office together. An office that sees all three can answer the question about the repair in one visit, rather than in several rounds of questions that each need the same information again.