Schenectady, NY Hurricane Preparedness: Flood Elevation (2026)

Section 158-16 of Chapter 158, Flood Damage Prevention, applies to every new structure and every substantially improved structure within an area of special flood hazard shown on the city's Flood Insurance Rate Map, and it lays the groundwork the city's more specific residential and nonresidential elevation rules in §§ 158-17 and 158-18 build on. Subsection A requires anchoring sufficient to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement during the base flood, on top of whatever state and local anchoring is already required for wind resistance, which matters directly for storm and hurricane preparedness since flood forces and wind forces during a major storm act on a structure at the same time.

Subsection B requires that new construction and substantial improvements use flood-damage-resistant materials and construction methods. Subsection C requires electrical, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and plumbing equipment to sit at least two feet above the base flood elevation, or otherwise be designed to keep water out and resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces, and it requires new and replacement sanitary sewer lines to carry automatic backflow valves where a building has openings below the base flood elevation. Enclosed areas below the lowest floor that are usable only for parking, building access or storage must be built with flood-vent openings sized at one square inch per square foot of enclosed area, with the bottom of each opening no higher than one foot above the lowest adjacent grade, so floodwaters can enter and exit without pressure damage to the walls.