Floodplains & Flood Insurance

Porter County contains approximately 37 square miles of floodplains and is part of the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP). The NFIP aims to reduce the impact of flooding on private and public structures. It does so by providing affordable insurance to property owners, renters and businesses and by encouraging communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations. These efforts help mitigate the effects of flooding on new and improved structures. Overall, the program reduces the socio-economic impact of disasters by promoting the purchase and retention of general risk insurance, but also of flood insurance, specifically. 

Participation in the NFIP is based on an agreement between local communities and the federal government that states that if a community will adopt and enforce a floodplain management ordinance to reduce future flood risks to new construction in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA), the federal government will make flood insurance available within the community as a financial protection against flood losses. The SFHAs and other risk premium zones applicable to each participating community are depicted on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs).

To view the Special Flood Hazard Areas for Porter County, visit the Porter County GIS Portal.



*Preliminary & historical products for Porter County are available for download on FEMA's Map Service Center *