Stafford County, VA Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Under Stafford County Code § 28-57(t)(1), every new building and every substantially improved structure in a special flood hazard area must be anchored to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement, and its lowest floor, including any basement, must be elevated to or above the base flood level plus three feet of freeboard. That freeboard requirement applies on top of, not instead of, the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, and the section extends the more demanding VE Zone construction standards to Coastal AE Zones. Subsection (t)(5) carries the same three-foot freeboard through to building systems: electrical equipment and components, HVAC, plumbing fixtures and appliances, and ductwork must all sit at or above base flood level plus three feet, unless they are designed and installed to resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads if placed lower.

Different zones carry their own baseline: subsection (q)(4) sets a minimum two-foot elevation above the highest adjacent grade in an AO Zone when no flood-depth number is printed on the FIRM, and subsection (q)(6) requires VE and V Zone structures to clear the base flood level by three feet at the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member, on pilings or columns certified by a registered engineer or architect. The floodplain administrator collects an elevation certificate documenting the lowest-floor elevation for every new or substantially improved structure and keeps that record on file, and flood insurance can be withheld from a structure built below the required elevation.