Floodplain Management
Floodplain Management assists customers in meeting the requirements of the Augusta Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
The Planning & Development Department is the archive for all the flood information for the City, including Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), Elevation Certificates (ECs), Letters of Map Amendment (LOMAs), Letters of Map Revision (LOMRs), and Flood Insurance Studies (FISs).
Planning & Development is also the project lead for mitigation of flood prone structures. Mitigation projects undertaken by the City seek to reduce or eliminate identified risks (flood risks) for known flood prone structures. For example, Augusta currently participates in a very active acquisition program – Augusta’s Flood Buyout Program – a program that has purchased 44 homes and properties, to date, through use of state and federal grant funding and local match dollars.
The Flood Buyout Program, now in its 20th year in Augusta, is strictly voluntary with residents contacting the City for acquisition consideration. Preference is given to occupied residentially used land in floodplains, with the highest consideration being given to those residents, or those areas, that flood on a frequent basis.
Aside from obvious, the acquisition of many acres of flood prone property and the preservation of open space and possible creation of riparian buffers, discussed above, other rewards of the Flood Buyout Program can include: removing flood weary residents from flood prone areas (and thus removing the potential for injury or death), a reduction in emergency response in these repetitively flooded areas, a reduction in the need for structural flood control projects (another mitigation technique that could have been used), reduced infrastructure maintenance costs, reduction in the need for community disaster assistance and emergency relief efforts, decreasing erosion, protecting water quality, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
Augusta’s Flood Buyout Program has proven to be a valuable tool in the community’s comprehensive approach to sound floodplain management, and, with ongoing and adequate funding, will continue to provide this beneficial service for years to come to the residents of Augusta, GA.
For additional information or a quick reference about Floodplain Management, see Augusta's Flood Brochure.
The following information can be obtained from this office.
This Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan was superseded by the Hazard Mitigation Plan adopted by the City in 2006. (See Hazard Mitigation) This Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan is being left on the website for historical purposes only
Build a GO Kit
Early Flood Warning
The Planning & Development Department is the archive for all the flood information for the City, including Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), Elevation Certificates (ECs), Letters of Map Amendment (LOMAs), Letters of Map Revision (LOMRs), and Flood Insurance Studies (FISs).
This office also works with the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) in providing information for the Community Rating System (CRS). CRS is a voluntary program, which, based on activities performed by the community determines a discount from 5 percent to 45 percent on flood insurance rates. Currently, the City of Augusta is a CRS Class 7 and we receive a 15% discount on our local flood insurance premiums, and we engage in many additional activities that could lead to a lower CRS classification in the future. We have been a Class 7 CRS Community since 2018. The Deputy EMA Director serves as the City's CRS Coordinator. For more information about CRS, contact EMA at (706) 821-1155.
Planning & Development is also the project lead for mitigation of flood prone structures. Mitigation projects undertaken by the City seek to reduce or eliminate identified risks (flood risks) for known flood prone structures. For example, Augusta currently participates in a very active acquisition program – Augusta’s Flood Buyout Program – a program that has purchased 44 homes and properties, to date, through use of state and federal grant funding and local match dollars.
- HMGP 1311-002 (2000-2004) 23 Properties
- PDMC-PJ-04-GA-2003-010 (2004-2007) 7 Properties
- HMGP 1833-0046 (2010-2013) 14 Properties
- SPLOST V (Augusta Richmond County Flood Reduction Program) (2012-2015) 19 structures
The Flood Buyout Program has also accepted, on occasion, the donation of repetitively flooded structures and repetitively flooded properties into the Flood Buyout Program, as well:
- Donations of properties is ongoing – there are currently 14 properties that the City of Augusta has accepted via donation
The Program has acquired 77 properties since 2000. Once acquired, the homes on these flood damaged properties are demolished and the property is restored to “open space”, or “greenspace”, and the property is allowed to function as natural floodplain storage, in perpetuity. It is hoped that these areas will one day revert to a natural riparian buffer along the watercourses they surround and will be home to populations of birds, reptiles, plants and mammals that frequent these types of riparian areas.
The Flood Buyout Program, now in its 20th year in Augusta, is strictly voluntary with residents contacting the City for acquisition consideration. Preference is given to occupied residentially used land in floodplains, with the highest consideration being given to those residents, or those areas, that flood on a frequent basis.
Aside from obvious, the acquisition of many acres of flood prone property and the preservation of open space and possible creation of riparian buffers, discussed above, other rewards of the Flood Buyout Program can include: removing flood weary residents from flood prone areas (and thus removing the potential for injury or death), a reduction in emergency response in these repetitively flooded areas, a reduction in the need for structural flood control projects (another mitigation technique that could have been used), reduced infrastructure maintenance costs, reduction in the need for community disaster assistance and emergency relief efforts, decreasing erosion, protecting water quality, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
Augusta’s Flood Buyout Program has proven to be a valuable tool in the community’s comprehensive approach to sound floodplain management, and, with ongoing and adequate funding, will continue to provide this beneficial service for years to come to the residents of Augusta, GA.
For additional information or a quick reference about Floodplain Management, see Augusta's Flood Brochure.
The following information can be obtained from this office.
- Flood Map Determinations and an explanation of your risk to flooding
- Copies of Elevation Certificates (ECs)
- Copies of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs)
- Requirements for Construction in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)
- Substantial Damage Determinations
- Assistance with Letters of Map Amendment (LOMAs)
- You or your surveyor will need to provide:
- Elevation Certificate
- Plat of the Subdivision
- Plat of the Property
- Deed of the Property
- FIRMette (P&D can assist with this)
- Grandfathering Assistance
Is your Property in the Special Flood Hazard Area (Floodplain)?
View floodplain information for your property from the FEMA Map Service Center: Search By Address at https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search, Georgia Map Program at www.georgiadfirm.com or find flood information for your property from Augusta's GISMap website, http://gismap.augustaga.gov/augustajs.
Flood Information
Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan
The Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan was developed because of a growing concern about the impact of floods on people and property in Augusta. The Plan also helps the City qualify to receive grant funds under federal mitigation grant programs. The Plan:- Provides an overview of the type, location, and extent of flood hazards in Augusta
- Summarizes how the City regulates floodplain development and responds to flood events
- Identifies priority actions that will be completed to reduce the exposure of people and property to flood hazards
This Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan was superseded by the Hazard Mitigation Plan adopted by the City in 2006. (See Hazard Mitigation) This Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan is being left on the website for historical purposes only
Additional Information
- Floodplain Outreach
- Floodplain Resources
- Drainage Systems Maintenance
- Flood Hazard Information and Warning System
- Flood Insurance
- Flood Safety
- Property Protection Measures
- FEMA Info
- Construction Requirements
- Freeboard - Reduce Your Flood Risk, Reduce Your Flood Insurance Premium
- How Recent Legislative Changes Affect Flood Insurance
- Combating Rising Flood Insurance Costs - Steps to Elevate (IASM)
Making Learning Fun
- Kid's Corner (Ready.gov)
- FEMA Kids Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book
- Kids - Family Communications Plan and Emergency Kit with the Disaster Dodgers
- Recovering From a Natural Disaster in College
- Water Water Everywhere - Word Search
Build a GO Kit
Areas Protected by the Levee
Early Flood Warning
- USGA- Water Watch - Stream Gages in Georgia
- Pick from the interactive map to view the gage you are interested in. Information with include the current state at the gage and the flood stage. Another interesting feature is the Flood Tracking Chart Builder. Here is an example of the historical flood information that it can provide:
Surveyor's Corner
New Elevation Certificate has been approved
- FEMA announced in a March 1 bulletin that the newly revised Elevation Certificate (FEMA form 086-0-33) can now be accessed here. Here is the Bulletin that was issued with the new EC – the new EC reflects some of the recommended changes that many of you have been having trouble with, including “the rounding issue”.
You will note that it has already been discovered that “C2.a-h, Section E and G8-G10 forces the entry of two decimal places (whether the data was captured to 2 place-accuracy or not). Section E instructions have been updated to reference the two decimal places (“nearest hundredth”); however, C2 was not."
This form expires November 2018. As you use the Elevation Certificate, please provide any suggested changes or comments to the Insurance Committee of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) at [email protected] – they have been advocating for change (on your behalf) since the last EC came out!