Guide · Environmental layers
Flood zone, storm surge, wetlands and soils on one screen for a Florida parcel
Open a parcel in Map Views and one block of its report, Map layers over it, lists the FEMA flood zone with the share of the lot in each zone, the storm surge category, the evacuation zone, the wetlands' share in acres, the soil's hydrologic group and hydric rating, and the health department's sewer and water record. Reading them together matters because they often disagree: in Lee County, 68.9% of parcels outside the 100-year floodplain sit in a storm surge zone. The report does not give a base flood elevation; FEMA's flood map panel does.
The lines, and how each one is read
Two kinds of line sit in that block, and the difference matters on a big lot.
- Read over the whole outline: the flood zone, with a line under it giving each zone's share when the lot straddles two, and the wetlands, as a percent of the lot, its acres, and open water apart. These count the parcel's whole shape.
- Read at the parcel's centre point: the storm surge category, the evacuation zone, the soil map unit with its group and hydric rating, and the sewer and water record. One value each, from wherever the centre falls.
The conservation easement line and land cover sit in the same block. Each of these has its own map in the Layers tab, under Hazards (flood zones, FEMA flood map panels, storm surge, evacuation zones, coastal barrier units) and under Land and water (wetlands, soils, land cover, 5-foot contours); Septic and well is under Utilities.
Why one screen: the lines disagree
Zone X is where a quick check stops. Here is what still turns up on parcels outside the 100-year floodplain, in six counties, coast to ridge:
| Outside the 100-year floodplain | Parcels | In a surge zone | Touch a wetland | Hydric main soil | At least one |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | 6,220 | 90.4% | 12.2% | 1.8% | 90.6% |
| Lee | 321,256 | 68.9% | 7.6% | 35.4% | 81.9% |
| Miami-Dade | 318,085 | 48.7% | 1.6% | 7.1% | 53.0% |
| Polk | 366,320 | none | 8.2% | 3.5% | 10.7% |
| Leon | 99,095 | 3.0% | 6.0% | 5.9% | 13.3% |
| Marion | 264,779 | 11 parcels | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4.2% |
"Outside" means a mapped zone that is not in FEMA's special flood hazard area: X, D or open water. On the coast, the surge zone is the line that changes the answer; in Lee, a third of these parcels also sit on a hydric soil, one that formed wet. Inland, surge drops out and the wetland and soil lines are what is left to catch a wet lot. A surge zone is not a FEMA flood zone: it comes from the state's evacuation study, the same one behind the evacuation zones FDEM publishes.
How much of each county each line covers
| Share of all parcels | Parcels | Flood zone | 100-year | Wetland | Surge | Evacuation | Hydric soil | Septic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | 89,162 | 90.9% | 83.9% | 53.2% | 80.1% | 94.3% | 25.7% | 16.3% |
| Lee | 561,559 | 82.6% | 25.4% | 9.5% | 79.3% | 82.7% | 32.4% | 17.2% |
| Miami-Dade | 938,308 | 58.0% | 24.1% | 4.0% | 62.9% | 77.2% | 13.0% | 11.1% |
| Polk | 435,650 | 95.2% | 11.1% | 13.7% | none | none | 9.8% | 24.5% |
| Leon | 111,379 | 94.6% | 5.6% | 8.5% | 3.2% | 4.3% | 7.0% | 27.5% |
| Marion | 286,148 | 97.9% | 5.4% | 5.0% | under 0.1% | none | 2.3% | 35.8% |
"Flood zone" is any mapped zone, X included; "Wetland" is any share of the lot; "Septic" is the inventory's known or likely septic codes. In Monroe, more than half of all parcels touch a wetland, and 30.3% are half wetland or more. Miami-Dade's flood zone column is low for a reason of shape, not of risk: 359,041 of its 938,308 parcels have no outline of their own, and 326,101 of those are condominium units. A parcel without an outline gets no flood or wetlands line, while its centre-point lines still fill; turn on the flood zones layer and read the zone under the building.
Reading one parcel, in order
- Flood zone and its shares. If the lot straddles AE and X, note how much sits in each, and where the building pad is.
- The base flood elevation, elsewhere. Turn on FEMA flood map panels to read the panel number, then find the BFE on that panel; see what AE, X and VE mean.
- Surge and evacuation. A surge zone of any category on a zone X lot is the case the first table counts; Category 1 floods first.
- Wetlands, in acres. A small share at the back of a big tract may not matter; the same share on a quarter acre does. The Wetlands Mapper shows the type of each polygon.
- Soil and septic together. A hydric soil or a D group next to a septic record is the drainfield question; our soil and septic guide goes deeper, and the Web Soil Survey has the full map unit.
Where it stops
- No BFE in the report. The zone, not the elevation; an elevation certificate or the panel gives that.
- One point for four lines. On a large tract, surge, evacuation and soil can change across the land; turn their layers on.
- Dates. Lee's flood zone rows are dated 21 October 2026 and its wetland rows 15 October; when FEMA revises a map, its own site has it first.
- Not determinations. FEMA's map is not a flood zone determination, and the wetland inventory is not a jurisdictional line. See wetlands in zone X for what to do when the two disagree.
All of it comes with the one $47 plan; no layer is an add-on.
Each line is the publishing agency's public data, shown as published: FEMA for flood zones, the Division of Emergency Management for surge and evacuation zones, the Fish and Wildlife Service for wetlands, the NRCS for soils and the Department of Health for the septic inventory. Each agency, or a licensed professional, is the authority for a decision.