This is my page to go over my most recent information on flooding in the Town of Palm Beach Gardens. First, THIS LINK is to the City of Palm Beach Gardens Flood Information Page. As you can see there’s not much to it. In fact, if one looks up the FEMA Community Rating System grade for PBG the residents get NO discount on their flood insurance (30% under Risk Rating 2.0) as apparently they do not submit paperwork for the discount.

It late 2024 it was announced that FEMA would finally be adopting the new FIRMS first proposed pre-COVID. These will be effective in Dec 2024.

The NFIP is a wreck and the insurance agents have convinced the politicians to change the rating system entirely. Enter Risk Rating 2.0. Gone are the days of loking at a map for your zone and doing some basic math to get to a bill. Now it’s all behind the curtain of “propritary information”.

What they are developing is a rating system using data from Core Logic (IMO not a great company) and some sort of black magic math system to rate properties. No idea if they will continue to use elevation certificates or published flood maps or underwriting manuals right now. Use this link to look up how your property will be rated in the new system.

If you are reading this it’s probably because the flood zone (FIRM) maps are proposed to be changed. You may want to click on this link to find your PROPOSED NEW FLOOD ZONE . These maps are ow used by mortgage companies to determine if flood insurance is a requirement of your loan. And they are used by local planners. Most notably to determine if you must raise the elevation of your house when rebuilding after say a hurricane or doing a major renovation, or building a new house.

You have your address and parcel id number so use those at the FEMA Map site to locate your property and print out a FIRMette (small version of this map) showing it. Are you in an area that shows ANY shading or coloring? If not then you are in an area labeled Zone X Area of Minimal Flood Hazard. Note, this is NOT Shaded Zone X. Basically, is there’s no shading on the map then you are not in a flood zone. If it is shaded then you are in some degree of a flood zone. The next shaded area is a Shaded Zone X. This is the old Zone C, and then we get into the Special Flood Hazard Areas or SFHA’s. (SFHA’s are show on the map as Zones A, AO, AH, A1-30, AE, A99, AR, AR/A1-30, AR/AE, AR/AO, AR/AH, AR/A, VO, V1-30, VE, and V.) Take note of this zone (say AE) and if shown what the (Elev. = X Feet). This X feet elevation is the Base Flood Elevation or BFE and is by the 1988 NGVD datum. Is the elevation of your finished floor of your house higher than the BFE? If not then you will be required to have flood insurance by your lender. If you are in the shaded Zone X then this is the old B Zone and and while you are not required to have flood insurance by your lender, I would. And, I would pay attention to any changes in the flood maps as you may be in the next “expansion”.

Along the beach we see Zone A*. Note that Zone A* is a high flood risk due to surface (rain) water where Zone V* is high flood risk due to surface water AND “additional hazards associated with storm-induced waves”. BIG Waves but this does NOT yet include storm surge predictions. There are maps for storm surge predictions and next we will look at these.

Storm surge is what I worry about. They say, hide from wind but RUN from water and this is why the county evacuation zones are based in large part upon storm surge predictions. Go the THIS NOAA PAGE to see the storm surge inundation maps for the various Cat 1 to 5 storms and zoom in on our area. These are developed based upon the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model. Note that these models in the contiguous U.S. have been updated to NAVD88 as a datum BUT show the estimated height of water above the ground. Look at this map. Is your property in an area susceptible to storm surge? If yes then READ THIS ARTICLE on correlating the height of the estimated storm surge for a given storm to the elevation of your property. In Jupiter for Hurricane Dorian they were predicting a 2-4′ storm surge.

Remember that storm surge is the water ABOVE the normal tide caused by a storm. In Northern Palm Beach County the normal high tide is about +0.5 feet NGVD 88 and the so called ‘king’ high tide is about +2.5′ NGVD 88. So, if you live in an area that is prone to storm surge, AND the storm is schedule to hit at high tide, AND it happens to be the time of the year the king tides occur, then you should be worried if the forecast surge is greater than say 7′ (the Finished Floor Elevation in NAVD 88 of your house) – 2.5′ = 4.5′.

Final thoughts on Palm Beach Gardens are that for the most part PBG is OK but there are some problem areas. The area along the intracoastal and including the area east AND west of Prosperity Farms Rd is susceptible to storm surge. If you live along Prosperity Farms in places Bay Village, Pirates Cove, Prosperity Harbor, and Harbour Isles watch the storm surge predictions AND these are also in or near the flood zones. The beach area is subject to high wave action which should be expected. Inland there is an area around Palm Beach County Estates that’s in the flood zone and personally I would be concerned with PGA National looking at the flat topography and proximity to wet lands. REGARDLESS of the maps, if you live on the water or in an area where the maps indicate a flood problem then flood insurance is a cheap safety net.