Assessing Your Flood Risk

Special Flood Hazard Areas

There are several ways of assessing your flood risk. If your lender requires you to have flood insurance, you can be certain you live in a high flood risk area. These areas are known as "Special Flood Hazard Areas."
City's Map of Flood Zones (PDF)

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)

A second way of assessing your risk is to refer to a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) to determine the flood zone designation for the area in where your property is. FIRM maps are available for public viewing at the City's Main Library or you may call the City's Floodplain Manager at 305-622-8000, ext. 2648 to assist you in determining your flood zone. Zones designated as "A" or "V" are defined as higher risk areas; however, even lower risk may still be subject to flooding (flood zone designations, along with explanations, can be found in the "Do-It-Yourself" Assessment Tools section).

You can also check your elevation certificate for your property. This document will tell you the elevation of the lowest level of your structure relative to the base flood elevation.

Do-It-Yourself Assessment Tool

As a convenience to users of this site, we have included access a "Do-It-Yourself" tool which provides quick, unofficial, and reasonably accurate determinations of inland flooding. Users are cautioned to use official information sources; call the City's Floodplain Manager at 305-622-8000, ext. 2648 when important decisions are required.

The tool is the City of Miami Gardens Flood Insurance Rate Map (PDF).