SA Flood Zones (Salado, Bandera: insurance, houses, neighborhood) - City-Data Forum

jg94531 · 03-10-2007, 08:16 PM

I just got a job in SA and will be moving soon. I am affraid the neighborhood my wife and I are looking at is in a flood zone. Are there any links to maps for this? Thanks!

OzzyRules · 03-10-2007, 09:09 PM

This website has online topographical maps: topozone.

It starts downtown so you have to slowly "walk" to your neighborhood, unlike mapquest where you can zoom out and zoom back in.

OzzyRules · 03-10-2007, 09:19 PM

I take that back. You can change the viewing scale. Just don't ask me how to read the maps because I haven't figured it out.

smuboy86 · 03-10-2007, 09:54 PM

JG, what neighborhood? this forum is really helpful since we represent all sides of the city, we can probably personally tell you if that area floods.

wCat · 03-11-2007, 08:26 AM

Bexar County Appraisal District also has that information. If you have a physical address or general neighborhood, they can help you.

That topomap is great!

cabs1982 · 03-11-2007, 10:39 PM

I live on the north side of Bandera Rd(near 1604) and according to my insurance company, I'm not considered to be in a flood zone of any kind(have flood insurance anyway, it costs about $180.00 p/yr.).

n0vemberHAWK · 03-11-2007, 10:43 PM

Have flood ins. regardless of where you live. Better safe than sorry. SA is crazy, it can be 110 and sunny at 3pm and flooding with tornado watches at 8pm that same night.

SA is unpredictible.

cabs1982 · 03-11-2007, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n0vemberHAWK

Have flood ins. regardless of where you live. Better safe than sorry. SA is crazy, it can be 110 and sunny at 3pm and flooding with tornado watches at 8pm that same night.

SA is unpredictible.

Agreed 100%.

wCat · 03-12-2007, 08:22 AM

I may be incorrect, and maybe the laws have changed, but if a property is IN a flood zone, I don't think you can even buy insurance coverage. Anyone know this for sure?

Keep in mind, when we had the two huge floods in 98 and 02, there were many houses that were flooded but were in "500 year" and "1000 year" flood zones. Some of that damage coverage came from fema and other sources. The city also bought out an entire neighborhood on the lower East side near the Salado Creek because of the damage. They rezoned some flood areas.

Check with BCAD or SAWS.

jwh97 · 03-12-2007, 08:53 AM

Buying flood insurance if you are not in a flood zone is a waste of money no matter how inexpensive it is. The terrain here, especially north of Loop 410, does not lend itself to wide spread flooding. Flooding here is almost always related to living next to a river or dry creek bed that swells when it rains, often referred to as flash flooding. (Last night's storm was weak in terms of flooding, by the way). Unless your backyard is next to the river, creek or lake, chances are your house will never come close to flooding. I'm an engineer and have prepared some of the thousands of flood studies that FEMA uses to create its flood maps which then are used to determine flood insurance rates. The flood plains are pretty well defined in the city and in newer developments outside the city.

This is the FEMA website where anyone can access the maps used by insurance companies to determine flood risk: http://msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/store...=-1&userType=G
I think it is a requirement of most lending institutions that a surveyor or engineer determine which "zone" a property is in when getting a mortgage. It will usually be stated on the lot survey or somewhere in the closing documents. jg94531, you can pm me with the location in question if you have problems getting the maps to work.