How You Can Prepare for Flooding

You can prepare for a flooding emergency before it happens.

While less than 25% of the City of Sacramento is within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), any property in or out of the SFHA is at risk of flooding. One of the best ways to prepare for potential flooding is to carry flood insurance to protect your home. This is because Sacramento is a natural floodplain that will always be at risk of flooding and homeowner's insurance policies do not protect against flooding damages.

The SFHA, as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, represents the 100-year regulatory floodplain. This means that in any given year, your property has a 1-in-100 chance of becoming flooded. In SFHA, flood insurance is typically mandatory for all homeowners who carry a mortgage on their property. To see if you are in an area where flood insurance is mandatory, please view Area Dependent Levees Map . For information about flood insurance, please visit www.floodsmart.gov  or call 800-427-4661.

Much of the City is protected by levees that meet a 100-year level of protection. This increased level of protection allows homeowners in these areas to qualify for preferred risk flood insurance policies (PRPs). A PRP affords you the same levels of flood insurance protection as mandatory flood insurance, but at a discounted rate. In fact, most PRP policies will cost you half of what a mandatory flood insurance policy costs. For more information about Preferred Risk Policies (PRPs) please visit SAFCA Outreach page  or contact your local insurance agent.