Rock Hill, SC Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Chapter 10 Article VII is Rock Hill's NFIP-compliant Flood Damage Prevention ordinance, enacted to satisfy 44 C.F.R. § 60.3 minimum NFIP standards and to qualify Rock Hill property owners for federally subsidized flood insurance. The Floodplain Administrator, located in the City's Planning and Development Department, is responsible for: reviewing all building / development permits in mapped SFHAs; providing free flood-zone determinations from the most recent Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) prepared by FEMA for York County; completing elevation certificates for new construction and substantial improvements; advising property owners on retrofitting, drainage improvements, and other protection strategies; and submitting the biennial NFIP community-status report to FEMA. Rock Hill's SFHAs are concentrated along the Catawba River on the city's east side, Fishing Creek, Crowders Creek and its tributaries, and smaller urban drainages where storm-sewer capacity is limited (Lige Green Street, for example, has been a chronic flooding location funded through a 2023 SC Office of Resilience CDBG-MIT grant). Federal law (42 U.S.C. § 4012a) requires flood insurance on any federally-backed mortgage where the structure is in an SFHA. The Stormwater Management and Sediment Reduction Act (S.C. Code § 48-14-10 et seq.) gives Rock Hill additional authority for runoff management. SC does not have a statewide floodplain code separate from NFIP minimums - the floodplain rules in each SC city flow from FEMA's NFIP minimum standards (44 C.F.R. § 60.3), the SC Code building-code-adoption framework at § 6-9-50, and the local ordinance.