The FEMA maps show areas of potential 100-year floods, which include the banks of most river and stream courses as well as ocean and lake fronts. Unfortunately, this is also exactly where a lot of people have built their houses or want to build them. As the name implies, a 100-year flood has the probability of occurring once every 100 years. In reality, devastating floods can occur more often than this. However, water doesn t know how to read a map.
Floods often extend beyond the official flood zone boundaries.
Buyers should find out if the property they intend to buy has ever been flooded for any reason. Also, all property with even the remote possibility of being flooded should be covered by flood insurance. Dam and levee failures, tsunamis and seiches can also cause flood damage. A tsunami is a large ocean wave caused by an earthquake or undersea landslide. A seiche is a similar sort of giant wave which takes place in a lake or inland body of water.