- When it comes to questions people ask me
about moving to Charleston, flooding is
by far the number one topic, so today,
we're gonna be telling you everything
that you need to know about the flooding here in Charleston.
What's up, everyone, and welcome back.
I'm Bill Olson, your favorite YouTubing Realtor here
in Charleston, South Carolina, and real quick,
if you haven't yet, don't forget,
let's go ahead, subscribe, ring that bell,
like this video, share it with your friends,
especially if they're thinking of moving to Charleston
because we got some great information for you
all about flooding today.
Flooding is an actual issue.
I have lived through it myself.
This is a picture of me getting out of the neighborhood
in my first home during a storm.
We had to kayak out to go to the grocery store
because the water was too deep for our cars.
When it comes to the flooding issue,
these are actual text messages
and emails that I get from people.
"We wanna move to Charleston,
but we don't wanna live in a flood zone,"
or, "We have friends that live in Charleston,
and they told us to make sure that when we buy a house,
it's not in a flood zone."
Now, this is the first thing we're gonna talk about
because both of these statements are a myth.
The fact is, everything in Charleston
is in some sort of a flood zone.
It just depends on how big of a risk that flood zone is,
so let's break down the three major flood zones
that you're gonna find here in Charleston.
The first zone is Zone X.
This is the lowest risk, and mortgage companies
are more than likely not going to require you
to carry flood insurance.
Most people that are in Zone X consider themselves
not in a flood zone, so does that mean it's not gonna flood?
No, because remember, floods can't read flood maps.
After Zone X, you're gonna find most
of the other half of the area in Zone AE.
Now, this is considered a moderate to high risk of flooding,
where mortgage companies are going to require you
to carry flood insurance.
The official definition of Zone AE states
that there is a 1% annual chance of flooding,
and that calculates into roughly a 26% chance of flooding
over the course of a 30-year mortgage.
Most homes, especially the newer ones that are built in AE,
are going to be elevated, either on a crawl space,
or now, we're seeing a lot of them with drive-under garages.
This is to ensure that the lowest main living area
is above the base floodplain elevation.
This is determined by an elevation certificate
that you can get, and if it shows that that floor
is above that base floodplain elevation,
and the higher it gets, ideally,
the lower your insurance premium will be.
Most of the AE zones we see here in Charleston
are going to be around rivers, lakes, and bodies of water,
and the third zone we're gonna talk about
is the highest risk, and that is Zone VE.
Now, Zone VE has the exact same risk as Zone AE.
However, it adds in the additional risk of storm waves.
So we see Zone VE as beachfront
and some riverfront properties, so let's pull
up the map here so we can see the different areas.
Now, the blue are is gonna be your VE.
Like I said, you can see it follows the coast
and the bigger rivers that go through.
The brown and the dark red
are flood zones AE and A.
They have the same risk.
The red just doesn't have base flood elevations,
but they are that 1% chance annual risk of flooding.
Everything else we see is in Zone X.
So if you're super-concerned about flooding,
finding a home in Zone X is going to be your best bet,
but again, as I said earlier, floods can't read flood maps.
It's just a lower risk.
It doesn't state that there will never be a flood.
When it comes to actual flood insurance,
if you want more information on that
or you wanna determine exactly where a home is going to be,
I suggest you reach out to a local insurance agent.
They can best help you on that, and I'm gonna toss
my preferred insurance agent's information
down below in the description.
He'll be more than happy to answer any of your questions.
So now, I know you're asking yourself,
"Well, Bill, what areas flood the most?"
There's a few areas that I can say for sure.
Most of them are going to be downtown
because it is the lowest-lying area.
Lockwood, right where it meets Broad Street,
during high tides, we do see water there, and on Ashley Road
as well as some other pockets throughout downtown.
We're also seeing increased flooding in West Ashley
and Johns Island, where we're seeing a lot of development,
and even up into the Goose Creek area,
if there's a big storm, we can see
some flooding there in Summerville as well.
There is an older website.
I don't know how often it's updated,
but it can be a great resource where people
have uploaded pictures of flooding over time,
and it's FixFloodingFirst.org.
Again, I don't know how often it's updated,
but it can give you a good idea here
in the City of Charleston as to where that flooding is.
If you wanna look up flood zones on your own
and where they are, the most accurate information
is going to come directly from the FEMA website,
and the maps aren't that easy to read
because all the streets aren't updated.
We are getting new maps in January of 2021,
so hopefully, the new roads will be on there.
I'll toss a link to that down below in the description,
and also, if you want a little easier to read
and navigate, the Charleston GIS website
does have great ones as well, and I will drop a link
to that down below too, and while you're searching
around for homes, if you have any questions
about the history of flooding activity in that neighborhood,
I urge you, just reach out to me.
Shoot me a text, an email, give me a call,
throw up some smoke signals, and let's chat,
and if I directly don't know the answer,
I've got connections everywhere, and I can find out
if that neighborhood historically will be safe
for your family from any flooding dangers.
So as you can see, flooding is an issue here in Charleston.
Personally, I don't think it should be something
that keeps you from moving here because we're not
the only area in the country that sees flooding.
Here's a couple more videos for you, folks.
I hope you enjoyed this one.
Please don't forget to hit that Subscribe button.
Ring the bell. Like this video.
Share it with your friends.
Drop a comment down below if you live in an area
that doesn't flood or one that does so that people can see
where all this is happening and where they should move.
Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. Bye.