What is a 100-year floodplain?
The term “100-year flood” is misleading. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 year. There are many levels of floods: 500-year, 100-year, 20-year, and 10-year, for example. These numbers indicate the likelihood that a particular area will flood in a year’s time. For example, a home in a 100-year floodplain has a one in 100 (or 1 percent) chance each year of being flooded. That percentage holds true every year, regardless of how many floods have occurred in previous years, or their severity.
