When most people think about housing on the Outer Banks, they often think about flooding and water control. It is true that flooding is a realty for many who live on the sandbar, but flood insurance and flood maps are commonly misunderstood. Not all homes on the Outer Banks are in a flood zone. It is actually quite common to find “X-Zone” properties that do not require an additional flood insurance policy. However, just because a property is listed as X-Zone does not mean you should totally dismiss the prospect of flood insurance. People are free to take out a flood insurance policy no matter where they live, and if you are not designated as being in a flood zone, then your policy will be significantly less expensive.
Whether or not you are in a flood zone is based on the flood maps created by the government. They assess the likelihood of a flood happening within a lifetime and create maps based on that information. The more hazardous of an area you are located in, the more expensive your policy will be. Oceanfront properties almost always require a flood policy because of their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Beach nourishment and dune build up projects really help minimize the likelihood of flooding, but the potential is always quite high for these oceanfront homes to get wet.
On the opposite side, however, you have the Sound front homes of the OBX. They may not witness the waves and storm surge that the ocean side witnesses, but any native can tell you that the sound side will flood just as often. When a hurricane comes through the Outer Banks, all the water is sucked out to sea and the sound water recedes tremendously. There will be large parts of the sound that are completely dry for the day leading up to the hurricane. However, all the water comes rushing back via the ocean, rain, and rivers and the sound will flood extremely high.
After many decades of development along the OBX, new building codes have come about to help with flood mitigation. Most homes are built on pilings (or stilts) to reduce damage to the living area. If a property owner decides to build walls around the pilings and enclose this space to make more living space, it will likely not be insured with flood insurance. You may wonder why a house would need to be placed on pilings if it is not in a flood zone, and the answer is because flood maps are constantly changing. The following picture demonstrates how a sound front area was previously all in a flood zone, but then changed in 2020 to be X-zone.
You can see that on the left side, previously, everything was blue (very hazardous), and yellow (hazardous). Now, only the sound front properties are very hazardous, but everything else is not in a flood zone. Will these properties still occasionally flood? Yes. Do they require flood insurance? No.
So the question is, how do you find out what your flood zone is? Dare County has a unique flood map that shows you in a color coded way what flood zone you are in. It can be found at: gis.darecountync.gov/floodzones/
If you still have questions about your flood zone, or if you would like additional information on whether or not you should take out a policy, please feel free to contact me!
