Porter County, IN Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

19 FP-01) define the Flood Protection Grade (FPG) as two feet above the base flood elevation (BFE) established by the FEMA Flood Insurance Study, and every building standard in §D: Provisions for Flood Hazard Reduction is written around that two-foot freeboard. b covers residential construction: new construction or a substantial improvement of any residential structure or manufactured home must have its lowest floor, including the basement, at or above the FPG. d, at least two openings totaling one square inch of net area per square foot of enclosed area, with the bottom of each opening no higher than one foot above the interior grade, so floodwater can enter and exit and equalize hydrostatic pressure automatically.

c: the lowest floor must reach the FPG too, unless a registered professional engineer or architect certifies the structure is floodproofed watertight below that line and the floodproofing operates without human intervention or outside electricity. Applicants document compliance in two stages: an application-stage elevation estimate in National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, then a post-construction certification of the as-built lowest-floor elevation prepared and sealed by a registered land surveyor or professional engineer, submitted to the Floodplain Administrator before work continues past that point.