re: Land Clearing question

All property in Louisiana is in a flood zone just some better than others. It hurts my ears when someone says "my property is not in a flood zone" which is simply not true.

I call flood zones the good, the bad and the ugly. The good is Zones B,C or X which have no elevation requirement for the structures lowest floor. The bad is Zone A with a number or letter after it. The ugly is Zone V which are coastal areas only. Zones V and A have a BFE "base flood elevation" associated with them which is the lowest elevation you can build to. A and V measure to different parts of the structure.

The BFE is usually determined by the flood plan administrator for the parish or city but surveyors will do this. There have been a few instances where the surveyor used an outdated map and got the BFE wrong so it might be good to double check the BFE. On occasion the BFE will be determined by Corps of Engineers but only if the property is in a zone A with no number or letter behind it.

Some communities have a freeboard requirement which is a elevation higher than the BFE so do your research.

I have seen tracts of land with multiple flood zones "B, C, X and A", so the obvious decision is not to build in any Zone A.

Maps are constantly updated so while your property may be in a Zone B,C or X today, it could change to a zone A at some point in time. In a zone A, Flood insurance is based on how high your lowest floor is compared to the BFE. Every foot you go above the BFE the cheaper the insurance with the same coverage.

As other have said, remove any down limbs, take out trees/stumps if in the footprint of the house, drive way or utilities, and clear brush around the old and new property lines, Cut the grass on the whole 4 acres.

If your structure is to be built in Zones B, C or X just because there is no BFE requirement, there is still a chance of flooding so build the dirt pad as high as you can afford and start the pad soon. A good dirt contractor will remove 4" to 6" of ground/dirt before hauling in any new dirt, so any mulch on top will be removed anyway. The removing 4-6" of dirt is the same with the top of the dirt pad when it comes time to build so plan accordingly.

As far as flood insurance goes if you are in Zones B,C or X with a mortgage flood insurance is usually optional. My advise is if it rains at the property get the flood insurance.