Marietta, GA Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Because Marietta's flood risk comes from Chattahoochee River tributaries and heavy rain events, including remnants of Gulf tropical systems, rather than coastal storm surge, the city's readiness tool is a paperwork checkpoint rather than an evacuation zone: the elevation certificate. Section 7-8-10-030(C) requires, for all new construction and substantial improvements on a site covered by an approved floodplain management plan, a certified as-built FEMA elevation certificate showing the lowest floor elevation, filed right after that floor is completed. A licensed land surveyor or professional engineer must prepare and certify it.

Non-residential buildings that chose floodproofing instead of elevation submit a FEMA floodproofing certificate prepared by a licensed engineer or architect, along with a design and operation and maintenance plan showing how the floodproofing measures will keep working over time. The public works director reviews the submission for deficiencies, and any defect found must be corrected immediately, before further construction proceeds. Anyone who builds past the lowest-floor stage before the certificate is approved does so, in the code's words, "at the permit holder's risk," meaning later corrections to meet the three-foot freeboard standard in § 7-8-10-050 come out of the owner's pocket regardless of how much has already been built.