Floodplains_Content Page_Risk MAP

Risk MAP Projects

Risk MAP (Mapping, Assessment and Planning) is the next phase in floodplain mapping.

The Risk MAP process includes:

  • A multi-year FEMA program using a watershed approach
  • High quality flood maps and information
  • Non-Regulatory tools to better assess the risk from flooding
  • Planning and outreach support to communities to help them take action to reduce flood risk

Please visit FEMA to learn more about RiskMAP.

To view and download effective maps, flood insurance studies or data please visit FEMA's Map Service Center.

To view and download preliminary maps, flood insurance studies or data for active projects please visit FEMA's Preliminary Data Search Tool.

Countywide Projects

Bayfield County

Bayfield County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Revised floodplains will be produced using better available data resulting in new engineered Zone A and redelineated detailed studies. A project kick-off meeting was held on March 19, 2020, to present the process and timeline of the project. The draft panels were released on July 22, 2024 and included the new riverine studies and FEMA's revised Lake Superior coastal floodplains.

Flood Risk Review Meeting

Draft work maps and data were discussed during a Flood Risk Review Meeting held on August 22, 2024, in Washburn. The meeting also discussed the National Flood Insurance Program and flood mitigation opportunities. An informal 30-day comment period started on August 22, 2024, allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data. The draft data and work maps for the proposed floodplains can be downloaded at Bayfield Draft Data [ZIP]. A viewer has also been developed for users that may not have access to GIS. The data can be viewed using the viewer at: Bayfield County Draft FEMA Floodplain Map Viewer (acrgis.com).

For questions, please contact G. Fritz Statz.

Burnett County

Burnett County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Revised floodplains will be produced with better available data resulting in new engineered Zone A and redelineated detailed studies. A project kick-off meeting was held on February 10, 2022, to present the process and timeline of the project.

Hydrologic modeling is on-going for revised studies in Burnett County, however all other data development tasks are on hold until the 2022 countywide Lidar is available for use.

For questions, please contact G. Fritz Statz.

Chippewa County

Chippewa County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Revised floodplains will be produced with better available data resulting in new engineered Zone A and redelineated detailed studies. This project is currently in data development and expected to have draft maps issued in 2025.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

A virtual meeting was held with community leaders on December 7, 2022. This meeting was held to provide information on FEMA’s mapping project, discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, ask the communities for input, and answer any questions the communities may have.

Flood Risk Review/Resilience Meeting

Chippewa County work maps and draft data were discussed at the Flood Risk Review and Resilience Meeting held on May 1, 2025. The draft work maps, which display the proposed floodplains, are available for viewing. Non-regulatory products (Depth, WSE, Percent Annual Chance, Percent chance of flooding over a 30-year period grids) were also discussed and shared.

An informal 30-day comment period ends on May 31, 2025 allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data. The draft data for the proposed floodplains can be viewed on the Chippewa County Draft FEMA Floodplain Map Viewer (acrgis.com).

Please contact Allison Kielar for draft data, non-regulatory products, and any comments.

Douglas County

Project History

Douglas County floodplain maps are currently being updated. We are using better available data to produce newly engineered Zone A areas and update mapping along the Lake Superior coastline with data that FEMA has been working on as part of the Great Lake Coastal mapping effort. Coastal data will be incorporated into the mapping during the Preliminary phase of the project.

A project kick-off meeting was held on March 20, 2020, to present the process and timeline of the project. The data development phase is in progress. Data was gathered from local, state, and federal sources to incorporate into the map products as base data.

Flood Risk Review Meeting

Work maps and draft data were discussed at the Flood Risk Review Meeting held on January 25, 2023. An informal 30-day comment period started with this meeting allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data.

Preliminary Maps and Appeal Process

Douglas County preliminary flood maps were released on December 2, 2024. They can be found at FEMA Map Service Center.

The due process phase includes a 90-day comment and appeal period in which stakeholders have the opportunity to correct errors in the preliminary mapped floodplain if supported by revised engineering analysis. The comment and appeal period will open Spring/Summer 2025.

Appeals Process Public Fact Sheet

CCO Meeting Material/Open House

A local official meeting and public open house was held in-person and virtually on January 23, 2025 at the Douglas County Government Building. DNR staff were available to review the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps with stakeholders and to answer questions. Reference materials for the CCO meeting and Public Open House are now available for viewing.

Maps

Note - Below are preliminary flood storage maps for Douglas County, Wisconsin. A flood storage map is part of the mapped floodplain that identifies the natural flood storage capacity of that watershed area. A shapefile has also been sent to affected communities. If your community is listed on one of the flood storage maps below, flood storage language should be part of the community ordinance and the appropriate flood storage maps adopted.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Forest County

Forest County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Revised floodplains will be produced with better available data resulting in new engineered Zone A and redelineated detailed studies. This project is currently in data development and expected to have draft maps issued in 2025.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

A meeting was held with community leaders on April 13, 2023. This meeting was held to provide information on FEMA's mapping project, discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, ask the communities for their input, and answer any questions the communities may have.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Langlade County

Langlade County is a Map Modernization Project where we are using better quality data to update floodplains and provide digital products to affected communities replacing the old, outdated paper maps. A project kick-off meeting was held on April 29, 2020, via Skype.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

The project is now in the data development phase. During this phase, the base map data and aerial photo are gathered from local and state sources and the floodplains are being updated using hydrologic and hydraulic methods. Once this is complete, draft work maps and data will be produced and shared with local officials.

Along with the regulatory products (FIRMs and FIS) created for the Langlade County modernization project, there is a set of non-regulatory products we will be generating. These non-regulatory products help communities gain a better understanding of flood risk and its potential impacts on communities and individuals. These products will also enable communities to take proper mitigation actions to reduce this risk.

Flood Risk Review/Resilience Meeting

Work maps and draft data were discussed at the Flood Risk Review and Resilience Meeting held on April 14, 2023. The draft work maps, which display proposed floodplains, are available for viewing. Non-regulatory products (CSLF and AOMI) were also discussed. An informal 30-day comment period ends on May 14th allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data.

Preliminary Maps and Appeal Process

Langlade County preliminary flood maps were released on April 30, 2024. They can be found at, FEMA Map Service Center.

The due process phase includes a 90-day comment and appeal period in which stakeholders have the opportunity to correct errors in the preliminary mapped floodplain if supported by revised engineering analysis. The comment and appeal period is open September 13, 2024 to December 12, 2024.

Appeals Process Public Fact Sheet

CCO Meeting Material/Open House

A local official meeting and public open house was held in-person on May 29, 2024. The public open house was from 3-6pm at the Langlade County Fair Multipurpose Building. FEMA and DNR staff were available to review the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps with stakeholders and to answer questions. Reference materials for the CCO meeting and Public Open House are now available for viewing.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Marinette County

Marinette County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Using the latest LiDAR, floodplains will be modeled resulting in new engineered Zone A studies. We will also be incorporating detailed and coastal studies done previously by another FEMA contractor. This project will begin data development in the near future and is expected to have draft maps issued in 2025/2026.

A project kickoff meeting was held both in-person and via Zoom with community leaders on June 29, 2023. This meeting was held to provide information on FEMA’s mapping project, discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, ask the communities for their input, and answer any questions the communities may have.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Monroe County

Monroe County floodplain maps are being updated countywide and as part of the Kickapoo River Watershed update. Portions of the Kickapoo River will be updated with new in-channel survey, updated gage analysis, and revised detail modeling. All current effective approximate studies in the County will be updated to revised engineered approximate studies and delineated using LiDAR. A project kick-off meeting was held on October 5, 2021.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

Flood Risk Review/Resilience Meeting

Draft work maps and data were discussed during the Flood Risk Review and Resilience Meeting held on June 5, 2024, in Sparta. Draft results were presented for both the Countywide and Kickapoo River Watershed updates along with non-regulatory products such as water surface elevation grids, depth grids, changes since last FIRM, and areas of mitigation interest. An informal 30-day comment period started on June 6, 2024, allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data. The draft data for the proposed floodplains can be downloaded at Monroe Draft Data [ZIP] and non-regulatory products at Monroe Non-Regs [ZIP].

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Pierce County

Pierce County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. There is funding to complete hydrologic analyses, hydraulic analyses, and survey on select streams. New draft data and workmaps will be created as part of this revision.

A contract will be awarded to conduct the survey work which is needed for the hydraulic modeling of the new detailed studies. The survey work is projected to be completed by spring 2026.

Reference Material

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Polk County

Polk County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. Revised floodplains will be produced with better available data resulting in new engineered Zone A and redelineated detailed studies. This project is currently in data development and expected to have draft maps issued in 2025.

Project Kick Off Meeting Materials

A virtual meeting was held with community leaders on December 7, 2022. This meeting was held to give background on FEMA's mapping project, the National Flood Insurance Program, ask the communities for any input, and answer any questions the communities may have.

For questions, please contact G. Fritz Statz.

Price County

Price County is a Map Modernization Project intended to deliver digital products to affected communities, replacing the current paper maps. The project will also use recent LiDAR to redelineate detailed flood studies and revised approximate studies. A project kick-off meeting was held on January 24, 2022.

The project is now in the data development phase. During this phase, the base map data and aerial photo are gathered from local and state sources. The floodplains are also being updated using hydrologic and hydraulic methods. Once this is complete, draft work maps and data will be produced and shared with local officials at a meeting. This will include a 30-day comment period on the draft data.

For questions, please contact G. Fritz Statz.

St. Croix County

St. Croix County floodplain maps are being updated countywide. There is funding to complete hydrologic analyses, hydraulic analyses, and survey on select streams. New draft data and workmaps will be created as part of this revision.

A contract will be awarded to conduct the survey work which is needed for the hydraulic modeling of the new detailed studies. The survey work is projected to be completed by spring 2026.

Reference Material

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Sawyer County

Sawyer County is a Map Modernization Project where we are using better quality data to update floodplains and provide digital products to affected communities replacing the old, outdated paper maps. A project kick-off meeting was held via Zoom on May 20, 2021. See below for meeting materials.

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

The project is now in the data development phase. During this phase, the base map data and aerial photo are gathered from local and state sources. The floodplains are also being updated using hydrologic and hydraulic methods. Once this is complete, draft work maps and data will be produced and shared with local officials.

Along with the regulatory products (FIRMs and FIS) produced for the Sawyer County modernization project, there is a set of non-regulatory products we will be creating. These non-regulatory products help communities gain a better understanding of flood risk and its potential impacts on communities and individuals. These products will also enable communities to take proper mitigation actions to reduce this risk.

The end result is creation of draft work maps and a flood risk database containing Changes Since Last FIRM (CSLF), Areas of Mitigation Interest (AOMI) and depth grids which will be discussed at a Flood Risk Review (FRR) and Resilience Meeting. The draft work maps, which display the current effective and proposed floodplains, will be able to be viewed in an online map viewer and the layers explained during the meeting. This will include a 30-day comment period on the draft data as well. More details to come on the FRR meeting.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Watershed Projects and Physical Map Revisions (PMR)

 

Kickapoo Watershed (Crawford, Monroe, Richland, Vernon)

Richland County

Preliminary Maps and Appeal Process

Richland County preliminary flood maps were released on January 31, 2025. This includes revised studies within the Kickapoo River Watershed. They can be found at FEMA Map Service Center.

CCO Meeting Material/Open House

A local officials' meeting and public open house was held in-person and virtually on March 18, 2025 at the Village of Viola Municipal Office. DNR staff were available to review the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps with stakeholders and answer questions. Reference materials for the CCO meeting and Public Open House are now available for viewing.

The due process phase includes a 90-day comment and appeal period in which stakeholders have the opportunity to correct errors in the preliminary mapped floodplain if supported by revised engineering analysis. The comment and appeal period should begin in Summer 2025.

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Watershed Project History

In September 2020, FEMA funded the DNR to begin data development in the Kickapoo Watershed based on recommendations from the Discovery Report. This will include new and revised floodplain, draft maps, and changes since last FIRM map.

Discovery

The Kickapoo Watershed was chosen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the Discovery process, which kicked off in 2017. The goal of Discovery is to work with local communities to better understand local flood risk, mitigation efforts, and spark watershed-wide discussions about increasing resilience for flooding. It also includes evaluating the potential to update effective floodplain maps and mitigation planning needs for the basin. This report documents the coordination with stakeholders, and relevant data collected during the Kickapoo Watershed Discovery. This process concluded in September 2018 and the final Discovery Report, Map, and shapefiles are available for download.

Final discovery material

Reference Material

Project Kick-Off Meeting Materials

A virtual meeting was held with community leaders on January 13, 2022. This meeting was held to provide information on FEMA’s RiskMAP process, discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, ask the communities for input, provide a project timeline, and answer any questions the communities may have.

Flood Risk Review/Resilience Meeting

Work maps and draft data were discussed at the Flood Risk Review and Resilience Meeting held on January 11, 2024, in Viroqua. These meetings were for Crawford, Richland, and Vernon counties. Meetings for Monroe County will be held at a later date, as there is a countywide update in addition to the Kickapoo Watershed study. Non-regulatory products such as WSE grids, depth grids, CSLF, and AOMI were also discussed. An informal 30-day comment period started on January 16th, allowing communities to provide input on the draft maps and data. The draft data for the proposed floodplains can be viewed on the FEMA Flood Hazard and Risk Data Viewer.

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Milwaukee River Watershed (Milwaukee and Sheboygan)

Milwaukee County

Maps

Note - Below are flood storage maps for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. A flood storage map is part of the mapped floodplain that identifies the natural flood storage capacity of that watershed area. A shapefile has also been sent to affected communities. If your community is listed on one of the flood storage maps below, flood storage language should be part of the community ordinance and the appropriate flood storage maps adopted.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Sheboygan County

Maps

Note - Below are flood storage maps for Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. A flood storage map is part of the mapped floodplain that identifies the natural flood storage capacity of that watershed area. A shapefile has been sent to affected communities and will be made available on the DNR Surface Water Data Viewer. If your community is listed on one of the flood storage maps below, flood storage language should be part of the community ordinance and the appropriate flood storage maps adopted.

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Pennito Creek PMR - Dane County

Pennito Creek is a physical map revision that is updating several Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) panels in a portion of Dane County. The project purpose is to map an approved Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) on Unnamed Tributary to Lake Waubesa and Pennito Creek. A Consultation Coordination Officer (CCO) meeting with local officials and a public open house was held via Zoom and in-person at the Village of McFarland Municipal Center on August 29, 2023. Reference material for the CCO meeting and public open house is now available for viewing.

There was a due process phase that included a 90-day comment and appeal period in which stakeholders had the opportunity to correct errors in the preliminary mapped floodplain if supported by revised engineering analysis. The proposed flood hazard determinations were published in the Federal Register on November 3, 2023, and in the Wisconsin State Journal on December 7, 2023, and December 14, 2023. The comment and appeal period was open from December 14, 2023, to March 13, 2024.

Adoption Phase

This project has reached the Letter of Final Determination (LFD) date on October 9, 2024. This is the start of the 6-month adoption phase for affected communities. The current Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) panels and Flood Insurance Study (FIS) will be superseded by these updated FIRMs and FIS and the references to these will need to be updated in your local floodplain ordinance. The updated FIRMs and FIS can be found at FEMA Map Service Center.

Floodplain Ordinance Materials

The DNR has a Model Floodplain Ordinance which meets the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and Chapter NR 116, Wis. Admin. Code. All ordinance updates need to contain the minimum standards in the model. Please be on the lookout for an email from DNR staff explaining the update process. DNR staff are prepared to assist with the ordinance review and adoption process and explain state and federal regulatory requirements. Communities should have DNR staff review the draft local floodplain ordinance well before the ordinance is presented to the local governing body for adoption in order to ensure compliance with the NFIP and Chapter NR 116, Wis. Admin. Code. The Effective date of these products is April 9, 2025. Your floodplain ordinance must be adopted and approved by the DNR and FEMA by this date for your community to remain in good standing in the NFIP. Please send floodplain ordinance adoption questions to DNRFloodplain@wisconsin.gov.

Maps

Note - Below are flood storage maps for Dane County, Wisconsin. A flood storage map is part of the mapped floodplain that identifies the natural flood storage capacity of that watershed area. A shapefile has been sent to affected communities and will be made available on the DNR Surface Water Data Viewer. If your community is listed on one of the flood storage maps below, flood storage language should be part of the community ordinance and the appropriate flood storage maps adopted.

For questions, please contact Ben Sanborn.

Trempealeau River Watershed (Buffalo, Jackson, Trempealeau)

Project Kickoff Meeting

The Project Kick Off Meeting was held August 15, 2024. This meeting discussed the project scope, modeling methods, and touched on the NFIP and Mitigation programs. It also discussed next steps if FEMA funds continuation of the project. It also covered information on FEMA’s Risk MAP process, the National Flood Insurance Program, asked the communities for any input, and answered any questions the communities had.

Discovery

The Trempealeau River Watershed was chosen by the Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA) for the Discovery process, which kicked off in 2024.

The goal of Discovery is to work with local communities to better understand local flood risk, mitigation efforts, and spark watershed-wide discussions about increasing resilience for flooding. It also includes evaluating the potential to update effective floodplain maps and mitigation planning needs for the Trempealeau River Watershed.

A Discovery Meeting will be held in 2025 to review the Draft materials, discuss areas of flooding concerns, and receive comments. The Discovery report and maps will be updated following the Discovery meeting to reflect voiced mitigation needs, wants, and any other flooding concerns.

Discovery Material

Please direct any questions or comments to Allison Kielar.

Washington County (Milwaukee River Watershed, Rock River PMR, Washington County Datum Conversion)

The Washington County map update includes 3 separate projects that were wrapped together. (1) The Milwaukee River Watershed project is a watershed-wide update that included updating many streams in Washington County. Please refer to the above Milwaukee River Watershed section for more details. (2) The Rock River project is a PMR that is updating several Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs). The project purpose is to map the approved Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) which revised several Rock River tributaries within the County. (3) The Washington County datum conversion project purpose is to update all Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) panels to the most recent NAVD88(2012) vertical datum that were not previously updated as part of the Cedar Creek PMR study completed in 2022.

Preliminary Maps and Appeal Process

Washington County preliminary flood maps were released on March 20, 2024. They can be found at, FEMA Map Service Center.

The due process phase includes a 90-day comment and appeal period in which stakeholders have the opportunity to correct errors in the preliminary mapped floodplain if supported by revised engineering analysis. The comment and appeal period is open September 27, 2024 to December 26, 2024.

Appeals Process Public Fact Sheet

CCO Meeting Material/Open House

A CCO (local officials) meeting and public open house was held in-person on May 2, 2024. The public open house was from 4-7pm at the Washington County Fair Park & Conference Center. Reference materials for the CCO meeting and public open house are now available for viewing.

Maps

Note - Below are preliminary flood storage maps for Washington County, Wisconsin. A flood storage map is part of the mapped floodplain that identifies the natural flood storage capacity of that watershed area. A shapefile has also been sent to affected communities. If your community is listed on one of the flood storage maps below, flood storage language should be part of the community ordinance and the appropriate flood storage maps adopted.

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Watershed Project History

Prior to the development of these non-regulatory products, four Action Discovery meetings were held with communities in the Milwaukee Watershed to get a better idea of their mitigation and floodplain planning needs, in February 2014. As a result, a Final Discovery Report was created to further reflect any additional comments by the communities. This report was submitted to FEMA with suggested streams to be studied or included as leverage for data development. FEMA has approved and funded some of these projects as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. The details of this data development are still being worked out.

On May 16, 2013, Initial Discovery meetings were held in the Cities of Glendale and West Bend for the Milwaukee River watershed. The Milwaukee River watershed encompasses Dodge, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties and 39 incorporated communities. Local officials, engineers, planners and emergency managers participated in discussions about flood risk and hazard mitigation in their communities. The attendants also provided input about any areas of concern on streams they would like potentially restudied.

Additionally, a comment period was open until Monday, June 3, 2013 at the end of which all comments were compiled and re-evaluated by the DNR and captured in the Initial Discovery Report.

Along with the regulatory products produced for the Milwaukee River Watershed Mapping Project, there is a set of non-regulatory products. These non-regulatory products help communities gain a better understanding of flood risk and its potential impacts on communities and individuals. These products will also enable communities to take proper mitigation actions to reduce this risk.

Non Regulatory products were delivered to the communities in August 2019. Work maps, Flood Risk Report, and Flood Risk Database were presented at Resiliency and Flood Risk Review Meetings on August 28, 2019 in Port Washington and West Bend. Printed work maps, which display the current effective and proposed revised floodplains, were available for review and comment at these meetings.

Discovery materials

Reference materials

View the following presentations from the meetings for more about the upcoming project and potential reasons for restudy.

Maps

For questions, please contact Allison Kielar.

Wolf River Watershed (Outagamie, Waupaca)

A project for updating select approximate and detailed study streams in the Wolf River Watershed with new floodplains is starting in Outagamie and Waupaca Counties. At this time, stream survey, hydrology and hydraulics have been funded. This will take the project through draft data with work maps.

A contract was awarded to conduct the channel survey work which is needed for the hydraulic modeling of the new detailed studies. The survey work is projected to be completed by late 2024.

Project Kickoff Meeting

The Project Kick Off Meeting was held October 10, 2023. This meeting discussed the project scope, modeling methods and touched on the NFIP and Mitigation programs. It also discussed next steps if FEMA funds continuation of the project. It also covered information on FEMA’s Risk MAP project, the National Flood Insurance Program, asked the communities for any input, and answer any questions the communities may have.

Reference Material

Wolf River Watershed RFB Data

For questions, please contact G. Fritz Statz.

Business Plans