Look up the official FEMA flood zone for any Houston-area address, see whether it sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area, and understand what that means for flood insurance.
Free lookup. No account required. Greater Houston coverage.
Your FEMA flood zone determines whether a lender requires flood insurance and shapes what that insurance costs. This free tool returns the official zone designation for any Greater Houston address straight from the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, in plain language.
Zone AE and other A and V zones are Special Flood Hazard Areas with a 1% annual chance of flooding, where flood insurance is required on federally-backed mortgages. Zone X shaded is moderate risk, the 0.2% annual chance area. Zone X is the lower-risk designation. Much of Greater Houston sits in Zone AE because of flat terrain and heavy rainfall.
A flood zone is FEMA's prediction, and Houston regularly floods outside the mapped high-risk areas. For a full picture, pair the zone with the property's elevation, Harvey flood depth, and actual claim history. The full Floodfolio report puts all of that together.
Enter the address above. Floodfolio returns the official FEMA flood zone from the National Flood Hazard Layer and tells you in plain language whether the property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area.
Zone AE is a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area with a 1% annual chance of flooding, where flood insurance is required for federal mortgages. Zone X is lower risk and insurance is not federally required, though Houston still floods in Zone X.
If the property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area such as Zone AE, lenders require flood insurance on federally-backed loans. In Zone X it is optional, but roughly one in four NFIP claims nationally come from outside the high-risk zone, so it is worth considering.
FEMA has updated maps in several Houston-area counties since Harvey, but maps still lag real conditions and do not capture every drainage change or subsidence. Use the zone as one input and check the property's actual flood history too.
FEMA satellite map, full storm claim history, repetitive-loss data, and a shareable PDF for any Houston address.
Run a Full Report →