New Orleans, LA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

The city's flood-zone map isn't a local invention. Code of Ordinances § 78-58 adopts by reference "the Flood Insurance Study for City of New Orleans and Orleans Parish, Louisiana," dated September 30, 2016, along with FEMA's accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and Flood Boundary-Floodway Maps, plus any later FEMA revisions. That adoption is what fixes the AE, VE, X and other zone boundaries a property owner is bound by. Section 78-56 makes the whole article apply parish-wide, to every property within Orleans Parish, so there is no unincorporated pocket that escapes it.

Section 78-76(a) then converts the map into an enforceable permit rule: "It shall be unlawful to proceed with any new construction, substantial improvement, repair or renovation of a building within the city without having previously obtained a permit from the director of the department of safety and permits," issued under Chapter 78 and the Chapter 26 building code. Section 78-77 requires the permit application to include an elevation certificate prepared by a licensed civil engineer or land surveyor, the lowest-floor elevation in relation to mean sea level, and, for nonresidential flood-proofed structures, an engineer's or architect's certification of the flood-proofing criteria in § 78-122(2).

The department of safety and permits reviews and can deny permits based on danger to life and property, susceptibility to flood damage, and the site's relationship to the floodplain (§ 78-77(c)). Where FEMA hasn't designated a regulatory floodway in Zone AE, § 78-66(c) blocks new construction, substantial improvements or fill unless it's shown the cumulative development effect won't raise the base flood elevation more than one foot anywhere in the community. S. 38:84 is the state statute that authorizes the city to run this program at all.