Rockingham County, VA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

1(a)(3). For residential construction, including manufactured homes, new construction or substantial improvement in Zones AE and A with detailed base flood elevations must have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated two feet above the base flood level, giving Rockingham County a two-foot freeboard margin above the federal one-foot minimum. Non-residential buildings must be elevated to or above the base flood level, or may instead be floodproofed to one foot above the base flood elevation with walls substantially impermeable to water, certified by a registered professional engineer or architect, with that certification kept on file by the floodplain administrator.

3(c) requires that any fully enclosed area below the regulatory flood protection elevation in Zones A and AE be used only for parking, building access, or limited storage, built of flood-resistant materials, and fitted with flood vents providing at least one square inch of opening per square foot of enclosed area, with at least two openings on different sides of each enclosed area and the bottom of openings no higher than one foot above grade.