canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/nationalflooddata.com/nationalflooddata # National Flood Data API The National Flood Data API delivers FEMA flood map data, flood zone determinations, flood risk assessments, and elevation lookups for any US property address or coordinate. It returns the structured FEMA NFHL data layers - flood zone codes, base flood elevations, FIRM panel identifiers, and Letter of Map Change history - that lenders, insurers, and real estate platforms need for compliance and underwriting. Results are sourced directly from FEMA NFHL data and exposed through a small set of GET endpoints suitable for batch lookups. ## For AI agents Look up FEMA flood zone, flood risk, elevation, and FEMA flood map panel data for any US address or coordinate. ## Scope Does not handle property valuation, hurricane wind risk, or flood insurance policy issuance - use for FEMA flood zone, flood risk, and elevation lookups only. ## Capabilities - Determine the FEMA flood zone for a US street address or latitude/longitude pair - Retrieve a flood risk assessment summarising NFHL hazard layers for a property - Look up ground elevation values for a coordinate to support flood depth analysis - Fetch the corresponding FEMA FIRM map panel image and panel identifier for a location - Run batch flood zone lookups for property portfolios prior to closing or renewal - Pull flood determination data into mortgage underwriting and insurance binding workflows ## Use cases ### Mortgage Flood Determination Mortgage originators must determine whether a property requires flood insurance under federal law before closing a loan. The National Flood Data API returns the FEMA flood zone code, FIRM panel identifier, and Special Flood Hazard Area status for the subject address in a single request, replacing manual map look-ups. A complete determination typically resolves in seconds, allowing the result to be embedded directly in the loan origination system. Example prompt: Call /flood-zone with the subject property address and return the flood zone code, FIRM panel ID, and SFHA flag for inclusion in the loan file. ### Property Insurance Underwriting Insurance carriers use flood zone and elevation data to price property policies and decide whether to require a separate NFIP or private flood policy. The API combines /flood-zone, /flood-risk, and /elevation responses so an underwriter or rating engine can score flood exposure for a single address in one workflow. This avoids the cost of ordering an external flood certificate for every quote. Example prompt: For a quoted address, fetch flood zone, flood risk, and elevation, then return a structured underwriting payload containing zone, BFE, and ground elevation. ### Real Estate Portfolio Risk Review Property investors and asset managers review flood exposure across portfolios after FEMA map revisions or following major weather events. Iterating over portfolio addresses against the API surfaces every parcel now sitting in a Special Flood Hazard Area, with FIRM panel and base flood elevation attached. The output supports re-rating insurance, planning mitigation, and triggering disclosure obligations. Example prompt: Iterate over a CSV of 250 portfolio addresses, call /flood-zone for each, and produce a summary listing every property whose zone begins with A or V. ### Agent-Driven Flood Compliance Agent-built lending and insurance assistants need flood determinations on demand without managing FEMA data ingestion themselves. Through Jentic, an agent searches for the National Flood Data operation by intent and executes the call with a structured address payload, receiving the zone, panel, and risk fields back as JSON. The API key is held in your Jentic One instance, so the agent never sees the raw secret. Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'check FEMA flood zone for an address', load the schema for /flood-zone, and execute it for the borrower's property. ## Key endpoints | Method | Path | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | GET | `/flood-zone` | Get flood zone determination for an address or coordinate | | GET | `/flood-risk` | Get flood risk assessment for a property | | GET | `/elevation` | Get ground elevation for a coordinate | | GET | `/fema-map` | Get the FEMA FIRM map panel for a location | ## Key resources - **Flood Zone** — FEMA flood zone determination by address or coordinate - **Flood Risk** — Flood risk assessment combining NFHL hazard layers - **Elevation** — Ground elevation lookup for a coordinate - **FEMA Map** — FIRM panel image and panel identifier for a location ## Why Jentic - **Setup:** Wiring the National Flood Data API by hand means learning its Authorization-header key auth on the api.nationalflooddata.com host and handling errors across the flood-zone, flood-risk, and elevation calls yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the National Flood Data API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it. - **Permission scoping:** This API takes its address and coordinates as query parameters rather than in the URL path, so scope the agent to the operations it needs, such as flood-zone and flood-risk lookups. You choose the operations it may call, so the elevation or FEMA-map calls are not included unless you add them. - **Credential handling:** Your National Flood Data API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected into the Authorization header at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context. - **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'check the FEMA flood zone for an address', and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema so the agent calls /flood-zone or /flood-risk without browsing the reference docs. ## Related APIs - **ATTOM Data API** — Property and parcel data that pairs with flood determinations for full risk profiles. - **Geocodio API** — Geocodes US addresses to coordinates that feed the flood zone and elevation lookups. - **OpenCage Geocoding API** — Global geocoder used as a substitute coordinate source upstream of flood lookups. ## FAQ ### What authentication does the National Flood Data API use? The API uses an API key passed in the Authorization header. Jentic stores the key in its vault and injects it at execution time, so the raw secret never enters the agent's prompt or memory. ### Can I get the FEMA flood zone for a single address with the National Flood Data API? Yes. Send a GET to /flood-zone with the address or latitude/longitude as query parameters and the response contains the FEMA zone code, FIRM panel identifier, and Special Flood Hazard Area indicator pulled from the NFHL dataset. ### What are the rate limits for the National Flood Data API? The OpenAPI spec does not publish rate limits. Account-level throughput is governed by the subscription plan agreed with National Flood Data; check your plan for per-second and monthly quotas before running large batch jobs. ### How do I run a flood determination through Jentic? Run pip install jentic, then use the search query 'check FEMA flood zone for an address' to locate the /flood-zone operation, load its schema, and execute it with your address payload. Run it through Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer, to obtain an agent API key. ### Does the National Flood Data API return base flood elevation values? Yes. The /flood-zone and /flood-risk endpoints return base flood elevation where FEMA publishes it for the location, and /elevation returns ground elevation that can be combined with BFE to estimate flood depth. ### Is the National Flood Data API free to use? No. National Flood Data is a paid commercial data service with subscription and per-call pricing. Pricing is set by the vendor at https://nationalflooddata.com - Jentic adds no additional fee on top of the underlying API call. ### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the National Flood Data API? Yes. Because you run your own self-hosted Jentic One instance, your rules decide which National Flood Data operations the agent may call and which credentials it may use. You can scope the agent to just the flood-zone and flood-risk lookups it needs, leaving the elevation and FEMA-map operations out unless you explicitly add them. The stored API key is injected only for the operations you permit, so the agent never touches endpoints or secrets you have not authorized.