Know Your Elevation 

The first step in protecting your home from flooding events is to know the elevation where your home sits. Even if the nearest river, creek, or other body of water sits several miles from your home, it is advisable to look up the flood level of your nearby watershed. Why? The flood level measures how high waters could potentially reach during an extreme flood event.

Most areas around the country will deny new building permits to homes located within flood zones. Also, people trying to sell their homes are legally required to disclose flood zone information to potential buyers. Nonetheless, you can check free online flood zone maps at FEMA's website here. You can also find a map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to discover the frequency of flood events, by county, across the entire United States. You can sign up for free text messages or emails provided by the USGS's WaterAlert system. This system will let you know when a stream or river in your home's vicinity is rising to dangerous flood levels. In Canada, FloodSmart provides links to flood maps in each province.

What Measures Can You Take To Protect From Floods?

Even if your house is far from a flood zone, you can take some simple steps to protect your home from a potential flooding event. A couple of inches of flooding will most likely ruin your carpets and flooring. But, there is a considerable cost difference between replacing the moldy carpet and needing to rewire your home completely.

Protect Your Home's Electrical System

You can protect your in-home electrical system by opting to raise circuit breakers, sockets, switches, and other electrical wiring types. If your home is in or near a flood zone, you will want to keep all electrical outlets and wiring at least one foot above the flood zone. This set-up might mean that you will not have any lower electrical plug-ins to use for floor lamps, but that's a small price to pay to protect your home from significant damage.

You will similarly want to raise the furnace, water heater, air conditioning unit, fuel tanks, and other HVAC equipment so that they sit above the flood level in your property.

Stormwater and Grading Around Your Home

Even for a home located on a hilltop, well above any risk of flooding from rivers or creeks, incorrect grading can lead to severe flood damage. If the land around the foundation of your home forces water to run toward the foundation, heavy rains will cause water to accumulate around the base of your home. Small holes or cracks in your foundation can lead to large amounts of water making their way into your home.