Maryland Department of the Environment - Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps

DFIRM Outreach

The State of Maryland in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been systematically updating Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for communities over the past several years. This site is designed to guide homeowners/renters as well as communities through the process of determining their current flood risk as well as future flood risk based on the preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs).

The DFIRMs are digitally converted flood insurance rates maps that will be compatible with GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The improvements in spatial accuracy provided by the new base map, and the availability of electronic floodplain information should greatly enhance the ability to use the maps for planning, permitting, and insurance applications.

Using the schedule for map production in 2017, the average age of the DFIRM products in the Maryland is 4 years with 75% of the State at 3 years or less. Currently, 4 of the 6 oldest floodplain mapping products are in production to be remapped. MDE is the Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) on three of these products in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Montgomery County. FEMA’s Risk Assessment, Mapping and Planning Partners (RAMP) is producing the DFIRM product in Frederick County.

Researching Your Future Flood Risk

The DFIRMs are being released on a community by community basis. It is important to investigate your flood risk status and contact your insurance agent to make necessay modifications to your coverage while the maps are still preliminary. The digital files will be available when these maps become effective.

Using This Website

To use this website we recommend starting with your area of interest. If you are a homeowner, please visit the HomeOwners/Tenants section. If you are interested in an entire community, please visit the Communities section.

Technical Requirements

To use this website it is recommended to use a high speed internet connection with Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. Additionally, Adobe PDF Reader 9.0 or higher is required. The resolution of your monitor is also important; make sure your resolution is 1024 x 768 or above and assure you have disabled any pop-up blocker utilities while accessing the site.