Floodplain Information and Management

The City of Rockport, located on the western shore of Aransas Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, is a popular tourist destination and offers a variety of ways to have fun including boating, fishing, and other forms of recreation. However, due to its location as a coastal community, residents located in a high-risk flood hazard area or coastal storm surge area should understand the flood hazard and flood risk and how to protect themselves in the event of flooding, tropical storms, and hurricanes.

Flood hazard is not just related to flash flooding. Flood hazard refers to risk associated with mapped flood-prone areas of your community, and areas of poor drainage, localized street flooding, storm tide, storm surge, and other related flood risk areas.

The City of Rockport has eleven major watersheds, each of which has areas that are subject to flooding from rising waters from the area bays, as well as localized street and yard flooding. Most areas of flooding have been mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); however, not all flood-prone areas, areas with poor drainage, or localized street flooding have been mapped.

Your property may never have flooded or may be shown on the FEMA maps to be outside the mapped limits of flooding. However, this is no guarantee your property will never flood. Most areas of the City have yet to see the record 100-year flood event, which is a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. Statistics show that the 100-year storm event has approximately a 30% chance of occurring over a 30-year mortgage period.

For those living outside the 100-year floodplain, also referred to as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) on FEMA's flood maps, flooding is still possible. Roughly 25% of all flood claims occur outside the SFHA in areas considered minimal to moderate flooding. What does that mean for City of Rockport residents? It means that everyone in the City can, and should, have flood insurance, which is not covered under a standard homeowner policy. You can determine your property's flood zone at FEMA Portal. Find information on flood insurance.