Los Banos, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

03 as a flood with a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, also known as the 100-year flood, and uses that term throughout the chapter to mark the standard for regulated development. 14, adopted by Ordinance 936 in 1998, sets the construction standards that apply once a proposed building site is found to sit in a flood-prone area: new construction and substantial improvements, including manufactured homes, must be designed or modified and adequately anchored to prevent flotation, collapse, or lateral movement from hydrodynamic and hydrostatic loads, including the effects of buoyancy.

The same section requires flood-resistant materials and utility equipment, construction methods and practices that minimize flood damage, and electrical, heating, ventilation, plumbing and air conditioning equipment located or designed so floodwater cannot enter or accumulate in those components during flooding. 12, to obtain, review and reasonably use any base flood data available from other federal or state agencies when evaluating a permit application, since the chapter itself does not print a specific freeboard number of feet above base flood elevation the way some newer floodplain codes do. 05.