QUESTION: "Am I in the floodplain?"

ANSWER: Please check the FEMA Region IX Community Status List for your local office that is responsible for floodplain management administration. If the property is in an incorporated area, you will need the name of the city; if the property is in an unincorporated area, you will need the name of the county. Find the name and phone number of the appropriate floodplain management administration office. The parcel number of the property is needed when you call. Parcel numbers appear on county tax bills. The FEMA Region IX home page has additional resources.

QUESTION: "What is a 100-year flood?"

ANSWER: It is a probabilistic assessment that means a given event has a one-in-one hundred chance (1 percent) of occurrence in any given year, or a “return period” of once every 100 years. It does not mean a flood that occurs once every 100 years! Read a comprehensive description from the University of Missouri, Rolla. (Also includes discussions of precipitation vs. runoff, orographic lifting, storm duration, etc.)