Weather patterns are getting out of hand all across the U.S.  in recent years, and 2009-2010 has seen record flooding in a number of areas.  This flooding has caused significant damage to homeowners and forced many to find new lives where flooding could be less of a problem.  Others are turning to Mobile, Al surveyors to make sure their homes are safe.

Are you aware of whether or not your land sits within a flood zone?  This is something that many homeowners should look into whether they believe they live within a flood zone or not.  Even if your property or region doesn’t regularly flood yearly – even every 10 years – it’s still a smart move to take the steps to protect your home.  That includes flood insurance.

It’s best to arm yourself with knowledge.  If you want to determine the cost of insurance and to prepare yourself for the dangers of flooding in your area (including where to find shelter) you’ll need to do just a little bit of research.  It’s important that you understand the dangers and the impact/implications a flood can have on a local level (utilities, public land, real estate and development, transit, etc).

When you’re a property owner or you’re preparing to buy property you want to know whether or not you’re in such a flood zone.  You can acquire a flood map that covers all the land of the continental United States.  The map is produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is updated on a rotating basis (approximately every 2-3 years).

You can use the online system to locate your residence within the flood map.  To find a particular property on the flood map, you’ll need a little information about where the property is located. All properties are represented in the map, regardless of their flood zone designation. You can use the street address or the state, county, and city to go to that part of the flood map directly. You can also view the entire map of the area, zooming in until you have located the particular lot in which you’re interested. If you’ve already viewed the flood map and known the Panel ID for the FEMA flood map of your area, enter that ID number to be taken directly to that section of the map. Once you’ve found the area of the map that is of interest to you, you can purchase a copy, or print it for free on your own printer.

The map will specifically reveal flood zones and other areas that are very likely to flood.   Keep in mind that wherever rain falls there is a potential for flooding.  While some areas flood regularly others may only flood once every 10 years (or 100 years).  The flood map will reveal the frequency for specific areas, including the location of your own property.  These maps are not the perfect model for forecasting floods, but they do provide relevant information for your home.

If you’re certain if your property will have problems with flooding then you can contact a Mobile, AL surveyor to examine your property against the flood map records.  A surveyor will be able to provide the most relevant and accurate information on the potential for your property and the surrounding area to flood based on current measurements, raincast estimates and the flood map records.