Flood profile options pane

Analyze exposure data for flood hazards.

You access the flood profile options pane when creating a new hazard analysis or from the Object Management > Hazard Template section in the Administration Console.

The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) options apply to the hazard maps used with the FEMA Flood model; the AIR options apply to the hazard maps used with the Verisk Inland Flood Model for the United States. For information about the Verisk Inland Flood Model for the United States, refer to Using the Verisk Inland Flood Model for the United States in Touchstone. For a comparison of AIR Flood hazard maps and FEMA maps, refer to the topic Comparison of AIR Flood hazard maps and FEMA maps.

This pane includes parameters specific to the Hazard Analysis template, and elements common to all objects. To include this hazard in the template, select the Flood check box.


Return values	Description	Flag values
FEMA - Distance to Water Body	The distance from the location to the closest FEMA-defined water body, which includes oceans, very large lakes, and very large rivers. Distances are calculated in actual miles up to five miles. The Data Not Available value includes distances greater than five miles.	To flag certain distance conditions, enter low and high distance ranges; be sure to specify units (feet/miles).
FEMA - Distance to 100-Year Flood Plain	The distance from the location's boundary to the flood plain. Distances are calculated in actual miles up to five miles. The Data Not Available value includes distances greater than five miles. The boundary of a 100-year flood plain has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.	To flag certain distance conditions, enter low and high distance ranges; be sure to specify units (feet/miles).
FEMA - Distance to 500-Year Flood Plain	The distance from the location's boundary to the flood plain. Distances are calculated in actual miles up to five miles. The Data Not Available value includes distances greater than five miles. The boundary of the 500-year flood plain has a 0.2% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.	To flag certain distance conditions, enter low and high distance ranges; be sure to specify units (feet/miles).
FEMA - Flood Source	The source or sources of the flood data: Q3FIRM Flood Data is a digital representation of certain features of FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) data. The data does not contain several features from the original FIRM data, including base flood elevations and some flood zone types. Therefore, Q3FIRM Flood Data does not replace existing hardcopy FIRM or Digital FIRM (DFIRM); we recommend that you use this data only as a general guide to a particular location's proximity to Special Flood Hazard Areas. DFIRM is a digital version of the FEMA flood insurance rate map that is designed for use with digital mapping and analysis software.	To flag flood sources, select one or more items in the selection list.
FEMA - Flood Zone Category	FEMA flood zone categories that apply to the location: None: Areas where there is no flood hazard 100-Year: Areas where there is a 1% chance of being flooded (within a 100-year flood zone) 500-Year: Areas where there is a 0.2% chance of being flooded (within a 500-year flood zone) Outside: Areas outside of a water body, or outside of 100- and 500-year flood plains Water Body: Includes large lakes and rivers, very close to water No Data: Areas where there is no flood data available Unknown: Areas of undetermined but possible flood hazards that apply to the location.	To flag one or more FEMA flood zone categories, select one or more items in the selection list.
FEMA Flood Zone	Indicates which FEMA flood zone the location is in.	To flag one or more flood zones, select one or more items in the selection list.
FEMA - Base Flood Elevation (BFE)	The elevation of surface water resulting from a flood that has a 1% chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year. BFE values are shown in FIRM zones AE, AH, A1-A30, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, AR/AO, V1-V30, and VE. BFEs are shown on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and in flood profiles.	To flag base flood elevation categories, select one or more items in the selection list.
AIR - Distance to 100 year Flood Plain	The distance, in miles or feet, from the location's boundary to the 100 year flood plain. Distances are calculated in actual miles up to five miles. The Data Not Available value includes distances greater than five miles. The 100-year flood plain is an area where the flood's boundary has at least a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.	To flag certain distance conditions, enter low and high distance ranges; be sure to specify units (feet/miles).
AIR - Distance to 500 year Flood Plain	The distance, in miles or feet, from the location's boundary to the 500 year flood plain. Distances are calculated in actual miles up to five miles. The Data Not Available value includes distances greater than five miles. The 500-year flood plain is an area where the flood's boundary has at least a 0.2% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.	To flag certain distance conditions, enter low and high distance ranges; be sure to specify units (feet/miles).
AIR - Flood Zone Category	Indicates location of the AIR flood zone. 100-Year: Areas where there is a 1% chance of being flooded, within a 100-year flood zone 250-Year: Areas where this is a 0.4% chance of being flooded, within a 250-year flood zone 500-Year: Areas where there is a 0.2% chance of being flooded, within a 500-year flood zone No Data: Areas where there is no flood data available The purpose of this field is to quickly indicate whether a location is in the AIR 100-, 250-, or 500-year, or 'no data', flood zones.	To flag one or more AIR flood zone categories, select one or more items in the selection list.
Elevation	The elevation of the location, as measured from mean sea level. During a storm surge, lower-lying properties suffer more damage than properties with higher elevations.	To flag one or more elevations, select one or more items in the selection list.

Note: The values in the user interface are rounded to two decimal places. In the database, however, the values are stored to five decimal places. Therefore, a rounding error may cause a discrepancy in the flagged results, which are based on the values stored in the database. For example, if you choose to flag Distance to the Nearest Fault values between 1.00 and 60.00, a value of 0.99987 would not be flagged, nor would a value of 60.00123, even though the user interface would display these as 1.00 and 60.00.