Maybe talk to your neighbors and look at trees close to the creek. If there's frequent seasonal flooding, you should see evidence around the base of the tree trunks.

Are you financing construction through a bank? We have a creek that runs through our property, as well, and a shop on our property falls within the "100 year flood" zone. Because the construction loan paid off our land loan, we were required to (continue to) purchase FEMA flood insurance by the bank that financed our construction. Once the house was built, the final mortgage appraiser did a special piece on the appraisal that included the true location of the house in relation to the flood zone and we were allowed to drop it. You may want to run your question by the lender, if you have one.

Other than that...posting a topographic map may be helpful in eyeing potential future issues?

Congrats, it's an exciting time!

Your local building department will certainly have flood zone maps which you can check. If you have a lender, they will also have access to this information.

We had a similar situation. A large portion of our acreage is wooded and about 1/2 of that is in a flood plain. (house is built on a 17 acre lot) A large creek runs behind it. House is a few hundred feet away from the flood plain. It was pretty obvious where the flood plain was. We confirmed it though with maps (county, state and FEMA). We did have to prove to the lender, via a mortgage survey, that the house was well out of the flood plain. Be prepared for that.

As above. But you might also find that information also on your local county GIS website if available.

Great ideas! I will check with our lender to be, and the county! We do still have to do a survey, maybe I'll ask if flood zoning is a part of that as well. Checking the trees around the creek is simple genius!

Please keep in mind that a 1:100 year flood zone does NOT mean you can go 100 years without flooding. If you live anywhere near a flood plain, please ensure your home plans include a plan for how to bring sandbags onsite and stack them....your landscaping would be key - consider berms that have only a few points at which they'd need to be closed, rather than having to build a large sandbag dyke during an emergency.

With the changing weather patterns, more severe weather is occurring. Engineers built our local riverfront to a certain reliability, and it's been flooded out for >50% of the time since then....changing weather = changing flood probabilities. I read an article this past week about how a significant portion of flood mapping is terribly out of date and doesn't occur for changes in terrain (infill developments, new roads/streets, removal of vegetation) that can increase the likelihood of flooding.

If this sounds absurd, I'll add that I'm from flood-prone-Manitoba, Canada - where we've been nearly wiped out a handful of times in 200 years....when we flood, we flood BAD, and often even the army isn't enough to protect all the homes. Some homes near our major rivers (the Red and Assiniboine) are stuck sandbagging their property every year.

Depending on your topography, flash floods, overland flooding, and blocked drains during spring thaw can be problems too, not just a creek swelling.

Especially if you have kids, its worth coming up with a flood plan, just in case. I recall one year where the water was 5' from the house, and the septic field was underwater. Carrots developed donut holes from being submerged for weeks, and my parents told me to pick 1 stuffed animal to take with me when we were evacuated cause the rest were going to get flooded and destroyed....thankfully the waters receded, but it was stressful!

We definitely won't be pushing the boudaries if we can help it! Scary stuff water can be!! Thankfully there's no big thaw here in Texas, I never considered the flash flooding that could occur from that! My husband actually just got back from Houston rescuing people from the hurricane flood waters as he's on a state water rescue team through his fire department. So the tentative flood plan is "call Dad!" Ha

I wouldn't build on that land in Texas. Texas doesn't require strong runoff mitigation plans for new development. Development upstream or elsewhere in the catchment area could turn your whole property into a floodplain.

The Houston area flooding was mostly 1) people building new houses in stupid places and 2) floodplain creep from development.

Flash flooding is common in Texas.

Milly, do you live in Texas? Do you have professional experience in Texas? If so, where?

I lived in Texas many years. I was born there--6th generation; we came with SFA's second group--and still have many friends and all relatives but one there. We are from the Houston area and have watched as the houses across the street from my parents' house, which back onto a field, went from 2' of the backyard in the 100-year floodplain to the entire property and up to the center of the road being in the floodplain due to two major construction projects in a 3/4 mile radius. The core neighborhood itself is about 40 years old. One neighborhood was added nearby without issue, but farther out, other properties vastly increased the water run off.

My grandparents were considering a house across the street, but my grandfather, a title lawyer, absolutely refused when he found out the one tiny corner of the lot was in a floodplain. I thought he was being silly. 20 years later, the house is worth a lot less because if the change in flood plain, and they fight water coming in the back door and garage.

This has happened to a lot of other neighborhoods we are familiar with, too.

Flash flooding is common pretty much everywhere in Texas. In Central and East Texas, it's because rain storms can be so incredibly heavy. I've now lived and visited many places. I have only ever seen rainstorms like you get on the gulf in a literal rain forest. What people in the Midwest and East Coast call a terrible storm is just a regular rainstorm. When I moved from Texas, I was amazed at these "storms" that did not completely soak you within three seconds of stepping outside. They would sound like storms, and they would look like storms, but they wouldn't have that much rain.

Living in dryer areas, like the Panhandle or West Texas, flash flooding is an issue because the hard ground doesn't absorb that much water. We've got relatives-by-marriage who lost a chunk of their cattle herd that way.

We now live in a state that is militant about water runoff. It's a bit insane because it goes beyond not increasing the natural runoff though contruction to containing all runoff within a development. But it's better than having your house turn into a floodplain.

Every state has its own natural disaster set up to contend with. Having grown up in North Texas I'd more inclined to complain about our ever moving soil causing foundation issues than flash flooding. It's 62 acres so lots of space to pick from, there are many houses built within that range of a creek in cities.

But obviously I plan to do my research as wisely as possible.

Because you called it you "lot," I was assuming an acre or less! That entirely changes things.

I would look at the GIS topo map and heavily site the house based on th饿elevation. That should give you the idea of safe zones. Be super conservative about it. Our neighbor where I grew up with 25 acres had half in floodplain before--now it pretty much all is (but the property is a remnant of pasture from when it was all farmland, so not so bad). If the land is very flat, you could still be in trouble. But that's far less likely with a lot that size.

Part of our (not Texas) property is also floodplain. It's also down a ~100' slope toward the river. If we're in trouble, the entire East Coast is under water!

I admit that it isn't such a big problem in DFW as most other areas!

Hmm I don't recall referring to it as a lot. DFW might not be as bad, not sure. Definitely not coastal or Houston level flooding since hurricanes never reach us as more than rain storms. My husband gets pretty busy up here certain seasons with swift water rescues though the Task Force. But it's generally with know issues like the Trinity River or towns known to have drainage issues.