FEMA flood zone rules in Summerville, SC — also called floodplain regulations or special flood hazard area (SFHA) rules — determine flood insurance requirements and elevation standards for new construction.
Dorchester County administers its own Flood Prevention ordinance, Chapter 18, to stay in the National Flood Insurance Program. A development permit is required before any construction in a mapped special flood hazard area.
Dorchester County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and enforces Chapter 18, Flood Prevention, of its Code of Ordinances. Lowcountry flood risk is severe and comes from several directions at once: heavy rainfall, tidal flooding along the Ashley River, and hurricane storm surge, as the 2015 floods and Hurricanes Matthew and Irma showed around Summerville and greater Charleston. Before any development or fill in a FEMA special flood hazard area, the owner needs a development permit from the county floodplain administrator. New and substantially improved buildings must have the lowest floor elevated above base flood elevation with added freeboard, and non-residential structures must be elevated or dry flood-proofed.
Building, filling, or substantially improving in a special flood hazard area without a development permit exposes the owner to county enforcement, forced correction, higher flood insurance premiums, and loss of coverage eligibility.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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