Which zones trigger mandatory flood insurance on a mortgage

FEMA states that Congress requires federally regulated or insured lenders to require flood insurance for all buildings located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) securing a federally backed loan, for the life of the loan; the requirement was extended to all federally backed mortgages by the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-325), building on the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4012a). The SFHA is the 1-percent-annual-chance floodplain — in Charleston County that means Zones A, AE, AH, AO, A99, V and VE. Zone X and shaded Zone X are OUTSIDE the SFHA, so a lender is not federally required to compel a policy there; coverage remains available and, per FEMA, roughly a quarter of NFIP claims nationally come from outside the SFHA. Lenders must force-place coverage if a borrower does not obtain it or lets it lapse. Charleston County separately warns that under federal law the NFIP may not issue policies for structures built in Coastal Barrier Resources (COBRA) zones, and that the County has a few potentially developable COBRA parcels — coverage there, if any, is private. Checked 2026-09-04.