Anybody know if there is a way to access the new fema flood map that is not behind a paywall like the one linked below? Can't seem to find it elsewhere yet.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2026/new-fema-flood-maps-texas/

They are running a special if you sign up this week. $0.99 per month for 6 months.

PROD - FHRD - WE - select Draft Database for Community Review and you'll see Harris County in orange on the map.

Topography View makes it more clear.

Thanks to Jack Klompus
Dora the explorer - Page 67 | TexAgs

Awesome - thanks!

For those of you who don't follow Bob Rehak, he's got some commentary up on the new flood maps and links to navigate them, along with key quotes from HCFD.

Cliff's: these are preliminary, and nothing changes right now.

https://reduceflooding.com/2026/02/12/fema-releases-new-draft-flood-maps-for-harris-county-and-houston/

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

The last time they released new maps, it took like four or five years before they went into effect. My house was barely within the floodplain, and the new maps took it out of the floodplain. Every year I would check, and it was another year of paying high flood insurance rates.

I'm not sure I believe some of this. Our house is suddenly in the "high risk" despite making it through Harvey and every other flood event with zero issues. I think the metrics they use are way too simplistic. It sounds like for us, it's simply "proximity to waterway". But we're pretty elevated north of the creek, and when the creek does flood most of it flows to the lower elevation on the south side of the creek.

I think our property would be better classified as a moderate risk, but definitely not "high".

How did they keep all of the neighborhoods that flooded with 3-4 feet of water inside the Addicks Reservoir outside the 100 year flood plain? It looks like only 50-100 houses in both reserviors.

I also saw a photo purported to be a new fort bend county flood map this week, but as far as I can tell only Harris county put out new maps?

I believe a result of the lawsuits was the ACOE promising to open the gates sooner to prevent water levels from going beyond government owned land. Basically if the reservoir levels rise to the point where it is encroaching on homes, good luck to everyone downstream.

It looks like A&M threw some kind of "global warming" factor into the buyersaware maps. Houses in my area that didn't flood during Harvey are high risk, so they are anticipating larger rainfall events in the future.

I also noticed the scattering of different risk levels from house to house for no apparent reason.

Yeah. That map isn't great. My house has never flooded. Harvey never got above the curb. They show it as "moderately low." As far as I know, I'm not in any floodplain.

Big miss.

Also remember that if homes are jacked up and elevated above the 100 year flood plain they can be within the boundary but out (above) of the floodplain.

Chronicle needs to die. Who's keeping that trash paper alive.

Edit: Love how my address is consider high risk yet I've never flooded.

Jugstore Cowboy said:

---

Serotonin said:

---

chico said:

---

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

---

I'm interested in how they did this. My parents have been in the same house since the early 90s and have never come close to flooding. They aren't close to a waterway or have street flooding or anything. Yet their house is red (as are houses around them). Seems like a modeling whiff there.

---

That thing is crazy. They have threat colors changing from one house to the next, and 3 or 4 colors on the same block in some places. Are there artesian wells on some home lots ? How do you have a low-risk lot surrounded by high risk lots on all sides?

---

Looking at my house and some in my neighborhood. If some of the houses they have as risk flood, Noah is back and there's not much we can do.

They need to show their math. It says my house is not in the flood plain, yet is still high risk for flood. Wonder if the insurance got together on this to get people to buy flood insurance policies that they will never have to pay out on.

Are you talking about the A&M one? Yeah, I don't get it. My street starts high and goes down, but the houses are all up off the street until you get to the one just past me, where it drops some and then the final house on the street is street level. The 2 at the end of the cul-de-sac that are street level flooded During Harvey but not since.

Either way, houses up the street are "moderate high" risk while houses closer to the cul-de-sac are "moderate" risk. How is that possible? If water gets to the point where houses up at the start of the street have water, every house further down the street will have water as well as tons of other places that will not be in the new flood plain maps.

Serotonin said:

---

chico said:

---

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

---

I'm interested in how they did this. My parents have been in the same house since the early 90s and have never come close to flooding. They aren't close to a waterway or have street flooding or anything. Yet their house is red (as are houses around them). Seems like a modeling whiff there.

---

I just looked at my address as well. It puts me in a medium risk. I didn't live here during Harvey, but the neighborhood did not flood and we're on Cypress Creek. This subdivision is on a high bank with the low bank on the other side. I've mapped it out and the equivalent elevation on the south side of the creek is over !4/ mile south toward 1960. It's just an insane amount of water that would be required to raise the water levels another 3-4 feet.

I think they've relied too much on "close-ology" and then said well if your storm drain is plugged up.... That's just not how it works.

That buyer's aware map is BS. I didn't flood during Harvey, I'm not in the current 100/500 nor in the preliminary FEMA 100/500. Yet I'm "moderate". It's a good thing that wasn't adopted and used by anyone. Most likely it was built using iffy models and hasn't been tested based on any rain event.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Serotonin said:

---

chico said:

---

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

---

I'm interested in how they did this. My parents have been in the same house since the early 90s and have never come close to flooding. They aren't close to a waterway or have street flooding or anything. Yet their house is red (as are houses around them). Seems like a modeling whiff there.

---

I just looked at my address as well. It puts me in a medium risk. I didn't live here during Harvey, but the neighborhood did not flood and we're on Cypress Creek. This subdivision is on a high bank with the low bank on the other side. I've mapped it out and the equivalent elevation on the south side of the creek is over !4/ mile south toward 1960. It's just an insane amount of water that would be required to raise the water levels another 3-4 feet.

I think they've relied too much on "close-ology" and then said well if your storm drain is plugged up.... That's just not how it works.

---

Not a flood expert or hydraulic engineer, but I wonder if they take the momentum of the water into account along with the height of the bank that you're near. The water does flow faster through bayous during floods so I could see it pressing higher on banks on the outside of corners.

During Harvey, there were areas near Buffalo Bayou (from 6 to maybe inside the beltway) that flooded far away from the bayou while houses closer did not due to the speed of the release from the reservoir.

I used to gripe about being in the 100 year since our house didn't come close to flooding since Allison, but we got 18" inside during Harvey.

Quote:

---

$10,719,737 of flood insurance claims have been paid in this area in the last 10 years.

---

Lo this isn't even remotely true. Most of our houses aren't even 10 years old and we've never had a house flood in our entire neighborhood, much less the handful of streets shown on the map.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Serotonin said:

---

chico said:

---

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

---

I'm interested in how they did this. My parents have been in the same house since the early 90s and have never come close to flooding. They aren't close to a waterway or have street flooding or anything. Yet their house is red (as are houses around them). Seems like a modeling whiff there.

---

I just looked at my address as well. It puts me in a medium risk. I didn't live here during Harvey, but the neighborhood did not flood and we're on Cypress Creek. This subdivision is on a high bank with the low bank on the other side. I've mapped it out and the equivalent elevation on the south side of the creek is over !4/ mile south toward 1960. It's just an insane amount of water that would be required to raise the water levels another 3-4 feet.

I think they've relied too much on "close-ology" and then said well if your storm drain is plugged up.... That's just not how it works.

---

I think we might live pretty close to each other. Exact same situation for us. North of Cypress creek at a much higher elevation than those just south of us on the other side of Cypress Creek. We NEVER flooded during Harvey or any other big flooding event, and when we bought our house 10 years ago we weren't even in the 1000 year flood plain. But this map puts us at the highest risk level. Not only are we elevated that much higher than those on the other side of the creek, but our house is also at literally the highest elevation on our block. Our neighbors on either side of us gradually slope down.

New MAAPnext website was released yesterday. Same data as on HCFCD website, but bigger and more background on the methodologies.

Harris County MAAPNext - Click Interactive Map at the top for the Navigator.

AJ02 said:

---

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Serotonin said:

---

chico said:

---

Texas A&M helped put this together.

https://buyersaware.org/map/flood

---

I'm interested in how they did this. My parents have been in the same house since the early 90s and have never come close to flooding. They aren't close to a waterway or have street flooding or anything. Yet their house is red (as are houses around them). Seems like a modeling whiff there.

---

I just looked at my address as well. It puts me in a medium risk. I didn't live here during Harvey, but the neighborhood did not flood and we're on Cypress Creek. This subdivision is on a high bank with the low bank on the other side. I've mapped it out and the equivalent elevation on the south side of the creek is over !4/ mile south toward 1960. It's just an insane amount of water that would be required to raise the water levels another 3-4 feet.

I think they've relied too much on "close-ology" and then said well if your storm drain is plugged up.... That's just not how it works.

---

I think we might live pretty close to each other. Exact same situation for us. North of Cypress creek at a much higher elevation than those just south of us on the other side of Cypress Creek. We NEVER flooded during Harvey or any other big flooding event, and when we bought our house 10 years ago we weren't even in the 1000 year flood plain. But this map puts us at the highest risk level. Not only are we elevated that much higher than those on the other side of the creek, but our house is also at literally the highest elevation on our block. Our neighbors on either side of us gradually slope down.

---

Did we chat back and forth on here (or over on the Outdoors board) back in June 2023 when that derecho storm rolled down 45 and leveled everything up here? I was in Egypt for work and my folks came by the house daily for 4 or 5 days running a generator on the fridge and freezer.

I don't think that was me. Guess there are at least a few of us that live pretty close to each other.

For those curious about how Harris County commissioners make decisions, here's a quick chart I made.

Let's say you need to take a piss... pic.twitter.com/Xf0G8eekqY

— John Lomax V (@Thelastlomax) February 18, 2026