What is the floodway?
The floodway is the land immediately adjoining the river channel that is the natural conduit for flood waters. The floodway must remain open in order to allow flood waters to pass. When the floodway is obstructed by buildings, structures, or debris, flood waters will be dammed up and will flood even greater areas. Large portions of the floodplain store and later release flood waters, which reduce river flood stages. Under statewide floodplain management standards, local communities can designate areas for development in the floodplain, called flood fringe areas, that would cumulatively cause no more than a 1/2-foot (six inches) stage increase in the 100-year flood. A lesser stage increase than 1/2-foot (six inches) would be appropriate where filling/development of proposed flood fringe areas would increase flood damage potential to nearby properties. Many communities have delineated the boundary of the floodway and flood fringe on zoning maps. If the property a person owns or is intere
