About NFIP Maps

In support of the NFIP, FEMA has undertaken a massive effort of flood hazard identification and mapping to produce Flood Hazard Boundary Maps (FHBMs), Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), and Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps (FBFM). Several areas of flood hazards are commonly identified on these maps.

FEMA has issued FIRMs for most NFIP participating communities in New Hampshire. FIRMs identify areas with a one percent annual chance flood hazard in a community. These areas are called Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). The one percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100-year flood.

The flood hazards areas shown on FIRMs are based on the best information available at the time the maps were prepared. In some areas, the map will also show Base Flood Elevations and regulatory floodway boundaries.

To find out what the current effective date is for a community’s floodplain map or when a community was first issued a floodplain map by FEMA, please view FEMA’s Community Status Book.

To learn more about the above map terminology, please view the NFIP Map Terminology document.

Location of NFIP Maps

FEMA Map Service Center

• Current Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps (FBFH) and Flood Insurance Studies (FIS) are available online for viewing or purchase on FEMA’s Map Service Center Web site. Also available online are any Letters of Map Change (such as Letters of Map Amendment or Letters of Map Revision) that have been issued since June 1, 1997. The LOMCs can be found under each applicable map panel.
• Historic flood maps are available for online viewing on FEMA’s Map Service Center. These maps include all versions of a community’s NFIP maps except the most recently issued maps. It consists of maps no longer effective and current effective maps where a newer map has been issued but is not yet effective. These maps are typically used for flood insurance policy holders, who built in compliance with the flood map that was in effect at the time of construction, to receive "grandfathered" rates.
• A tutorial on how to find and print a flood map and a tutorial on how to read a FIRM are available.

University of New Hampshire’s GRANIT

The Complex Systems Research Center (CSRC) at the University of New Hampshire is currently a FEMA Cooperating Technical Partner and the host of the state’s geographic information system (GIS) clearinghouse. The CSRC’s GRANIT Web site provides access to New Hampshire’s statewide GIS and is also a repository for FEMA’s preliminary and final Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs) and Flood Insurance Studies (FISs) under FEMA’s Map Modernization Program.

The following information is currently available on GRANIT’s Web site. The DFIRMs and FISs are both available in a pdf format.

• Preliminary and Final Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs) (36 x 25.88 in) are available on GRANIT’s DFIRMs page.
• Preliminary and Final Flood Insurance Studies (8.5 x 11 in) are available on GRANIT’s Flood Insurance Study page.
• The GIS data supporting the DFIRMs has been released at no cost via the GRANIT Data Discovery Tool (theme keyword = flood).
• GRANIT Data Mapper - A Web-based mapping tool offering New Hampshire’s communities, agencies and organizations, and the general public access to a comprehensive collection of geospatial data archived in GRANIT including a Floodplains (DFIRMS) theme layer.
• NHDOT Geodetic Control Datasheet

NH Office of Energy and Planning (OEP)

OEP maintains a collection of all NFIP maps and FISs for New Hampshire communities. We can usually provide copies of either the entire map or portions of the map at no charge. Please contact us for a map or study or to stop by to review the collection.

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