Know Your Zone: Tampa Bay Flood & Evacuation Zone Lookup
Your flood zone and evacuation zone are not the same thing.
If you own, rent or are considering a home in Tampa Bay, there are two different zones worth knowing:
Your flood zone helps describe a property’s flood risk and is used for things such as flood insurance and building requirements.
Your evacuation zone helps emergency officials determine which areas may need to evacuate because of hurricane storm surge.
And here’s the part that surprises a lot of people:
You can be in a lower-risk flood zone and still be in an evacuation zone…or vice versa.
That’s why you should check both. Pinellas and Hillsborough counties explicitly caution residents that these are different designations used for different purposes.
If you came here from the Tampa Signal First 24 Hours Homeowner Checklist, grab it and fill in both blanks as you go.
What’s My Flood Zone?
Flood zones are based on flood risk.
FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps identify different levels and types of flood hazard, and the FEMA Flood Map Service Center is the official public source for FEMA flood-hazard information.
In Pinellas County, for example, everyone is considered to be in a flood zone—it may simply be low, moderate or high risk.
Your flood zone may matter when you’re:
- Buying a home
- Considering flood insurance
- Getting a mortgage
- Refinancing
- Planning improvements or permitting work
- Trying to understand the property’s overall flood risk
Write this one on your checklist:
My Flood Zone: __________________
What’s My Evacuation Zone?
Your evacuation zone answers a different question:
Could you be ordered to evacuate because of storm-surge risk during a hurricane?
Evacuation zones are based on vulnerability to hurricane storm surge rather than the same criteria used for FEMA flood zones.
Knowing your zone ahead of time means that when local officials announce an evacuation, you don’t have to start figuring this out while a storm is approaching.
Write this one separately:
My Evacuation Zone: ______________
Flood Zone ≠ Evacuation Zone
Not the same thing. Really.
That’s why the Tampa Signal checklist gives you two blanks. 😄
Find Your Zones
Pinellas County
Tarpon Springs · Palm Harbor · Dunedin · Clearwater · Largo · St. Petersburg and surrounding communities
For evacuation information, Pinellas County’s Know Your Zone tool lets residents look up their evacuation zone.
Find My Pinellas Evacuation Zone
Pinellas County also provides flood maps and address-based resources for determining property flood risk.
Pasco County
New Port Richey · Holiday · Trinity · Land O’ Lakes · Wesley Chapel and surrounding communities
Pasco County’s Know Your Zone tool lets residents look up their evacuation zone for evacuation information
Pasco County also provides flood maps for determining a property’s flood risk.
I’d verify Pasco’s current official lookup destinations before putting these two buttons live rather than hard-coding URLs we haven’t confirmed.
Hillsborough County
Tampa · Riverview · Brandon · Apollo Beach · Plant City and surrounding communities
Hillsborough County’s Hurricane Evacuation Assessment Tool allows residents to search by address, owner or parcel. Its evacuation zones run from A through E, while some properties are outside an evacuation zone.
Find My Hillsborough Evacuation Zone
Hillsborough also provides flood information and resources for determining a property’s flood zone.
Find My Hillsborough Flood Zone
Anywhere Else in Florida?
If you’re outside those three Tampa Bay counties, FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center lets you search official FEMA flood-hazard information by address.
Search the FEMA Flood Map Service Center
For evacuation zones, use your county’s official Emergency Management website because evacuation information is handled locally.
One More Thing: Your Zone Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
This is an important little belief-shift section I’d keep.
Seeing a reassuring-looking letter on a map doesn’t mean:
“My house can’t flood.”
Pinellas County explicitly says flooding is possible regardless of flood zone and notes that heavy rainfall, tropical weather, low-lying terrain and other conditions can create flooding.
Likewise, your evacuation zone isn’t a prediction that your house will flood during a hurricane.
These tools answer different questions about different risks.
So when evaluating a Tampa Bay property, don’t stop at:
“What flood zone is it in?”
A better set of questions is:
What’s the flood zone?
What’s the evacuation zone?
What’s the property’s elevation?
What’s the property’s flood history?
What will insurance cost for this particular house?
That’s a much more useful picture.
Keep This Information Somewhere You’ll Actually Find It
Once you’ve looked everything up, write both zones on your First 24 Hours Homeowner Checklist.
Better yet, save screenshots or links in the MY HOUSE album on your phone.
Because the time to figure out your evacuation zone is not when everybody else in Tampa Bay is simultaneously trying to figure out theirs.
Don’t have the checklist yet?
Download the free Tampa Signal First 24 Hours Homeowner Checklist and start building your own quick-reference guide to your house.