![\"flood1\"](\"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/02\/flood1.jpg\")
Bartholomew County lies at the point where several regionally significant streams – the Driftwood River, the Flatrock River, Clifty Creek, and Haw Creek – come together to form the East Fork of the White River.\u00a0 Approximately 2,000 square miles of upstream land drains through Columbus and Bartholomew County, making flooding the most significant natural threat to the area.<\/p>\n
The Planning Department is responsible for the administration of\u00a0floodplain regulations for new development. \u00a0These local floodplain regulations are adopted as part of the Columbus and Bartholomew County Zoning Ordinances. \u00a0Their administration involves providing information to the public and coordinating with the Bartholomew County Department of Technical Code Enforcement, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).<\/p>\n
For information about the City’s and County’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and for information about local floodplain development regulations, visit our Floodplain Regulations<\/a> page. To learn about the City of Columbus Flood Response & Evacuation Plan (FREP) and to view the stream gauges in our community, visit our Flood Response & Evacuation Plan<\/a> page. To view the City of Columbus Flood Risk Management Plan, visit our Flood Risk Management Plan<\/a> page.\u00a0 To view recent studies completed on Haw Creek by the Army Corps of Engineers and Christopher B. Burke Engineering, visit our Haw Creek Information<\/a> page.<\/p>\n The City of Columbus strives to provide timely and accurate answers to your floodplain questions. If you want to know if a property is in the Special Flood Hazard Area, you can check our local online GIS platform,\u00a0Elevate<\/a> .\u00a0 You\u2019ll find a wealth of information about the City\u2019s Flood Insurance Rate Map, flood depths at your property, natural conservation areas, local floodplain boundaries, and more. Or you can call the Planning Department with all of your floodplain questions at (812) 376-2550.<\/p>\n For information about flood insurance, please visit FEMA’s FloodSmart<\/a>.\u00a0 Homeowner’s insurance excludes flood insurance. The City of Columbus (180007) and Bartholomew County (180006) both participate in the NFIP which allows stakeholders in the community to purchase flood insurance.\u00a0 Discounts to annual flood insurance premiums are offered to stakeholders based on program class rating.\u00a0 The City of Columbus (180007) is currently a Class 7 community eligible for a 15% discount and Bartholomew County (180006) is currently a Class 8 community eligible for a 10% discount.\u00a0 There is a 30 day waiting period for insurance coverage to take effect so contact your local insurance provider to see if your home is protected.<\/p>\n Please visit the American Red Cross<\/a>\u00a0and Ready.gov (Department of Homeland Security)<\/a> for information about how to protect your family and home before, during, and after a flood event.<\/p>\n For more information on potential financial assistance and funding sources for help with flooding disaster relief check out FEMA\u2019s Individuals and Households Program at https:\/\/www.fema.gov\/assistance\/individual\/program<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-26 06:20:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.columbus.in.gov\/planning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}