Blog · October 17, 2026 · Montana
Reading the Glendive Flood Zone Map for a parcel
The zone on FEMA's map affects insurance, building and resale near Richey.
Main page: Dawson County, MT GIS & Parcel Viewer (official map link, county facts and neighboring maps).
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Weighing a property around Richey? Checking the Glendive flood zone map reveals whether the lot falls inside a mapped floodplain, and it costs nothing to check. This Glendive guide covers: finding the address on FEMA's map, reading the zone codes, and pairing it with the Montana Cadastral.
Getting started with the Glendive flood zone map
Flood zones come from FEMA's Flood Map Service Center: search an address around Richey, and choose the dynamic map. Rural land near Bloomfield with no street number is still easy to locate: zoom in from the nearest road and click inside the land.
The free map to start with
Go first to the Montana Cadastral; it includes every tax parcel from Bloomfield to Richey. For land near Richey, put in a street address, an owner's name or a parcel number, and the matching parcel lights up. If you're looking near Bloomfield, write down the parcel ID before closing the panel; each clerk in the county uses it to find the file.
Neighboring parcel maps
Dawson County meets McCone County, Prairie County, Richland County, and Wibaux County, all with their own assessor records. Acreage along the edge near Richey may show up in two county records, so look at the adjacent map before you assume the acreage. For a tract near Richey, our state page lists every neighboring county map across Montana.
Water near Richey
Small streams around Richey may not have detailed mapping, so ask neighbors about past flooding. Wetlands near Bloomfield can limit building even outside a flood zone; the National Wetlands Inventory mapper shows mapped wetlands.
On site with the map
The parcel map usually runs in a mobile browser, handy when you're parked on a road near Richey, but coverage can be spotty out of town. A screenshot of the parcel near Richey with its ID keeps working without signal.
Reading the legal description
Montana follows the Public Land Survey System, so deeds around Richey reference sections and townships. A standard section is about one square mile, roughly 640 acres, and a township holds 36 of them, though corrections make some sections near Richey odd-sized. Copy the legal description from the record for the parcel near Richey for any title or survey request.
The paper trail behind a parcel
Before you sign anything, pull the recorded deed from the County Clerk and Recorder; the parcel map near Bloomfield only summarizes it. Older tracts around Bloomfield can sit on several deeds, and a title company earns its fee if money is changing hands.
City limits and county records
Glendive sits in Dawson County, Montana, and the county assessor maps its lots. As the county seat, Glendive hosts the courthouse, handy when you need recorded documents. For a parcel near Bloomfield, city or town hall handles matters such as zoning, permits and utilities inside its limits, while the county keeps the tax map. Lots just outside the town limits toward Richey usually falls under county rules, not municipal ones.
Zones on the Glendive flood zone map
Zone AE includes a base flood elevation (BFE), and an unnumbered A zone has none; that elevation drives building rules near Bloomfield. Closer to Richey, shaded Zone X marks moderate flood hazard, between the 1% and 0.2% annual chance floods; unshaded X is minimal risk.
Matching the zone to the lot lines
FEMA doesn't draw property lines, so check the Montana Cadastral too to see exactly which lot near Richey you're looking at.
A short flood checklist
Ask the listing agent for any Elevation Certificate on the property near Richey; an insurance quote early keeps the budget honest.
Getting your bearings
Glendive holds the county offices, where most land records are kept. You'll also find Richey and Bloomfield, where town lots give way to larger tracts. About 8,810 people live in Dawson County (Census estimate, 2023) on roughly 2,372 square miles. Dawson County dates to 1869, so old deeds can run back a long way. Features like Yellowstone River, Redwater River, and Makoshika State Park help you orient on the aerial around Richey.
What a flood zone means for a buyer
For a home near Bloomfield, an Elevation Certificate from a surveyor helps: it compares the building to the BFE. Remodeling a house in a zone near Richey can trigger elevation rules; ask the local floodplain administrator early.
Quick answers
Will my lender require flood insurance near Richey?
Lenders generally require it for buildings near Bloomfield in a Special Flood Hazard Area when the loan is federally regulated or insured; elsewhere it's optional.
What if the flood map is wrong for my lot near Richey?
Usually, FEMA's LOMA process is the usual route when a building near Richey sits above the base flood elevation, and lenders accept the result.
What is a base flood elevation in Glendive?
In most cases, the BFE is printed in AE zones on FEMA's map; surveyors near Bloomfield use it often.
Can I see flood zones on the Montana Cadastral?
Generally, a flood layer may appear in the Montana Cadastral layer list, though it can lag behind FEMA's current panels.
Why do offices ask for the parcel ID in Glendive?
Every office uses it to pull the same file for land near Richey; copy it before you call anyone.
Open the official Dawson County, MT parcel map See it in the Platbookmapper directory
Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey, especially for fences, setbacks, or boundary disputes.