Overview
Floods can happen anywhere. Just one inch of floodwater can cause up to $25,000 in damage.
Most home insurance does not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is a separate policy that can cover buildings, the contents in a building, or both.
Determine Your Flood Risk
Whether you’re a homeowner, homebuyer, tenant, insurance provider, or floodplain manager, it’s important to know and anticipate your current and future flood risk status.
Penn State University, FEMA, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania created the Pennsylvania Flood Risk Tool to help you make informed decisions about flood risk. This step-by-step interactive process is designed to help you understand your flood risk and what your next steps should be based on your personalized results.
If you live in a community where flood maps are being updated, determining your flood risk is an important task. Updates to the maps, which are occurring throughout the state, can affect your flood insurance.
National Flood Insurance Program
The National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, provides flood insurance to property owners, renters, and businesses.
You can get coverage through NFIP if your city or town participates in the program's floodplain management requirements.
Check if your community participates. If they do, you can get a policy quote from NFIP.
Flood Insurance Options
You can purchase flood insurance through:
- an insurance company
- an insurance agent
- the same person who sells your home or auto insurance
Reduce Your Risk
While we can't prevent a natural disaster from happening, we can secure our property to keep our homes safe.
Protect Your Home
There are steps we can take to protect our homes from flooding:
Inside the Home
✍️ Prepare/update a list of belongings
🔐 Store valuables and important documents in waterproof or water-resistent containers on an upper floor. Make copies and store them online or offsite.
⬆️ Elevate/floodproof mechanical units, furnaces, water heaters, electrical systems, and other units on masonry, concrete, or pressure-treated lumber.
🔁 Replace carpet with tiles
✋ Floodproof basements: Seal walls with waterproofing compounds and consider a sump pump
👋 Install flood vents in foundation walls, garages, and other enclosed areas to let water out
🫸 Use flood-resistant insulation and drywall
🪠 Consider working with a plumber to install a sewer backflow valve to prevent sewage back-up
Outside the Home
⬆️ Elevate your home so that the lowest floor is above your home's base flood elevation
⚓ Secure yard items that could be swept away or damaged by floodwaters
🕳️ Seal cracks, holes, and gaps around pipes and wires that enter your building
🪟 Check caulking around windows and doors to make sure it isn't cracked, broken, or missing
🏗️ Building a home, garage, or shed? Set it back from river channels and shorelines. If possible, build on higher ground.
✅ Make sure your yard slopes away from buildings on your property and water has a place to drain
🍃 Clear gutters and check for/remedy drainage issues
Retrofitting
You can retrofit your property to protect it from flooding or other hazards, such as high winds or earthquakes.
These changes could be partially covered through federal financial assistance.
The six methods of retrofitting are:
- Elevation: Raising your home so the lowest floor/lowest horizontal member is at or above the regulated flood level.
- Relocation: Moving your home to higher ground where it will reduce exposure to flooding.
- Demolition: Tearing down a damaged home and either rebuilding on the same property or buying or building a home elsewhere.
- Wet floodproofing: Making parts of your home resistant to flood damage and allowing water to enter during flooding.
- Dry floodproofing: Sealing your home to prevent floodwaters from entering.
- Barrier systems: Building a floodwall or levee around your home to restrain floodwaters.
How Do Flood Maps Affect Me?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency releases the digital flood insurance maps on a community-by-community basis.
It is important to investigate your flood risk status and contact your insurance agent to make necessary modifications to your coverage while the maps are still preliminary.
If your building is not currently in the floodplain but will be based on the updated maps, it’s important to purchase flood insurance before the updated maps become effective — you might qualify for a plan at a reduced rate.
If your building is currently in the floodplain, it’s still important to check your future flood risk status because your coverage may need to change based on your situation.
Talk to your insurance provider if your building is in or out of the floodplain to make sure you are protected.
Some mortgage providers may also require flood insurance if the floodplain is on your property and does not touch your building.
Letters of Map Amendment and Letters of Map Revision enable property owners to request changes or updates to their property’s flood risk status.
Learn more about how to request a change to your flood zone designation.
