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A new floodplain map of Tyrrell County shows several changes, good and bad as far as requiring flood insurance.

A major change is that properties inside the Gum Neck Drainage District are declared to be in a flood zone because the portion along its northern border that parallels and crosses N.C. Hwy 94 is not high enough to prevent flooding inside the district’s dike.

State Emergency Management officials who presented amendments to the county’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance recommended a four-foot freeboard beneath all structures constructed or significantly remodeled after its adoption. The county now requires one foot of freeboard.

Freeboard is the vertical distance between the building site’s elevation above the floodplain and the lowest member of the first floor, and this definition includes subfloor ventilation ductwork.