Where does the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) come from?
FEMA defines the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) as the computed elevation to which the flood is anticipated to rise during the base flood. The base flood is also referred to as the 1-percent annual chance flood or 100-year flood. Just in case those terms are new to you, the 1-percent annual chance flood means that, statistically, there's a 1% chance every year that there will be a flood that looks like the one on the FEMA maps. But it could flood less, or more, or many times a year, or not at all. The Base Flood Elevation is a baseline pulled together from historic weather data, local topography, and the best science available at the time.