​When talking about flood safety, the term "flood mitigation" is used quite often. Mitigation is the action or steps taken to prevent something from happening (in this case, flooding). There are a number of things that can be done to help prevent flood damage, but sometimes damage from flooding cannot be completely avoided.  Purchasing flood insurance is one way to help mitigate the loss of your home and belongings, so you will have the money needed to make repairs.

Only flood insurance covers flood damage. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) defines flood as a general and temporary condition where two or more acres of normally dry land or two or more properties are inundated by water or mudflow. Flooding can be caused by a number of factors: rapid rainfall, river-flow and tidal surge, clogged drainage systems, changes resulting from building or development, and many others.

What is the difference between a Flood Zone and a Surge Zone?

Flood Zones are floodplains and areas subject to coastal storm surge identified as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). Homes in these Flood Zones are required to have flood insurance. The Flood Zones page explains each zone.

Surge is water from the Gulf or rivers that is pushed onshore ahead of and during a tropical storm or hurricane. Surge Zones maps are broken into five evacuation zones, A through E, based upon the greatest to the least threat of being impacted by storm surge.

Flood Warning

Lee County Emergency Operations Center is the County's warning point for floods and other weather-related hazards. Emergency Management receives updates from the National Weather Service, and if there is an imminent threat, we will alert the public using CodeRED, our social media pages, our website's Breaking News, text message alerts and press releases to the media. Natural Resources Hydrological Monitoring gathers rainfall data, which we review. We also monitor NOAA Weather Radio alerts for a number of threats, including flood predictions.