Flood Zones and BFEs

In this article:

• Important Notes About Flood Zones & BFEs in Forerunner
• Properties with Multiple Flood Zones & BFEs
• Changing the Flood Zone & BFE on a Property

The Flood zone and Base Flood Elevation (BFE) on the Property Information Panel is pulled into Forerunner from your community's FEMA data. However, you can also manually change the zone and BFE for certain properties within your community in the Forerunner dashboard.

Important Notes About Flood Zones & BFEs in Forerunner

Our parcel determinations are nuanced and can give you a sense of a property's potential flood risk, but please note that the determination is for a parcel, not a given structure. You may find that a structure of interest is located at one end of the parcel and has a different determination than what we show. It is important to visually check your digital FIRM map to corroborate this information.

It's also important to note that the information in the Property Information Panel is meant to help you in making decisions and informing residents but shouldn't be considered an official FIRM determination. We have included several disclaimers throughout the Forerunner software, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to support@withforerunner.com.

Finally, please note that any changes you make to flood zone and BFE values will reflect on the property's public profile and for other users in your account.

Properties with Multiple Flood Zones & BFEs

If a parcel falls between two or more flood zones, the Property Information Panel will show the information for the most restrictive flood zone that intersects the parcel. These zones are ranked, from most restrictive to least restrictive, in the following order:

1. Zone VE
2. Zone AE
3. Zone AO, AH
4. Zones A99
5. Zone AR
6. Zone V
7. Zone A
8. Zone X (0.2 pct annual chance flood hazard)
9. Zone X (area of minimal flood hazard)

Likewise, if a parcel falls between two or more Base Flood Elevations, we will show you information for the most restrictive (highest) BFE.

Changing the Flood Zone & BFE on a Property:

There may be multiple reasons to update the Flood zone and BFE for a property in Forerunner:

• If a property receives a LOMA or LOMR, you can update the Flood zone to our X (LOMC) option to indicate that the property is now considered outside of the SFHA.
• In riverine communities, BFE is often not available in FEMA data and must be interpolated. Our feature allows you to add those interpolated BFEs for each property.
• If a property lies within a parcel that is intersected by multiple flood zones, you can change the zone and BFE to reflect the flood zone/BFE for the structure itself.
• Many communities are required by their ordinances to use the best available data for flood risk, and therefore, may have better, more up-to-date BFEs. Our feature allows you to input these values instead.

To change the Flood zone and BFE on to a property:

1. Navigate to the property on your Forerunner dashboard by either clicking on the property on your Map or using the Search feature.
2. On the Property Information Panel Overview Tab scroll down to the property's Flood Info to find the Flood zone field. Click on the underlined flood zone. *You can also select the underlined BFE, or, if a BFE does not exist, click the Add option in the BFE field to update these same values. Any of these fields will bring you to the same editing options.*
3. In the pop-up modal, select the appropriate flood zone/BFE combination for the property. If you're adding a custom BFE, be sure to select one of the Flood Zone options that has the Custom BFE field alongside it.
4. If appropriate, add your custom BFE value in the Custom BFE field.
5. Click Save.

You should receive confirmation that your updates have saved and the new Flood zone and/or BFE information should appear on the Property Information Panel.