Understanding Risk Based on Flood Zone Type

This online resource was developed to help you find your property on the current regulatory flood map and will discuss how to interpret what you see on the map.

FEMA created the  National Flood Hazard Layer  and associated  Viewer  to make flood data and maps more accessible. The National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) is a geospatial database that combines individual digital flood maps so they appear as a seamless single layer in the NFLH Viewer. The NFHL Viewer allows you to easily access a repository of current flood risk data for most populated areas of the country.

Go to the  National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer  and type in your address. The result will look something like what you see below. You have to zoom way in for the flood information to appear. And it takes a long time for flood information to load so be patient!

Unfortunately, not all areas in Utah have flood risk information associated with them. Therefore properties that are at high flood risk may not be mapped as being in a high risk zone. But most areas in the Wasatch Front and other areas do. And many other populated areas do as well.

For the majority of viewers, the map feature of interest are the Flood Hazard Boundaries with zone markers. These show up on the satellite image base map as semi-transparent orange, aqua and striped areas. Above, we've put a red square around the Flood Hazard Boundary features in the legend. If you don't see the legend, click the legend button (horizontal lines) in the top right corner.

 Clic k through the slideshow below for an explanation...

Unfortunately, not all areas in Utah have flood risk information associated with them. Therefore properties that are at high flood risk may not be mapped as being in a high risk zone. But most areas in the Wasatch Front and other areas do. And many other populated areas do as well.