Blog · October 14, 2026 · Illinois
Using the Lawrence County Flood Zone Map
Flood zones are set by FEMA, and checking one near Lawrenceville takes a few minutes.
Main page: Lawrence County, IL GIS & Parcel Viewer (official map link, county facts and neighboring maps).
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Before an offer near Russellville, check the Lawrence County flood zone map: the zone on that map shapes insurance, permits and resale. Covered here for Lawrence County: finding the address on FEMA's map, decoding A, AE and X, and confirming the outline on the county map.
Checking the Lawrence County flood zone map step by step
Start with FEMA's Flood Map Service Center: type an address near Birds, and pick the FIRMette or map view. Vacant ground around St. Francisville can still be found: search the nearest road then click the parcel area.
Opening the official parcel viewer
Go first to the Lawrence County parcel viewer; it includes every assessed parcel around Billett and Birds. On ground around Bridgeport, enter a street address, an owner's name or a parcel number, and the viewer zooms to the match. For a home near Russellville, the parcel card typically gives the owner of record, assessed acreage, a parcel ID and in many cases the last transfer.
Getting answers from the right desk
Questions about value or the owner field for land near St. Francisville belong with the Supervisor of Assessments, working with township assessors, since that office keeps the assessment data. Questions about what you can build around Sumner are for the local planning and health departments, depending on whether the land is inside town limits.
Zones on the Lawrence County flood zone map
On ground around Birds, zones beginning with A or V mark the Special Flood Hazard Area, land with a 1-percent chance of flooding in any year. For land near Petrolia, a shaded X area is moderate risk, roughly the 100- to 500-year range; plain X, or C on older maps, is minimal risk.
A quick look at the area
Lawrenceville holds the county offices, where most land records are kept. You'll also find Bridgeport, St. Francisville, Sumner, and Russellville. About 14,813 people call Lawrence County home (Census estimate, 2023) on roughly 372 square miles. The county dates to 1821, and some chains of title near Sumner are long.
Taking the map into the field
Most viewers work in a phone browser, which helps when you're standing on land near Billett, so load it before you lose signal. A printout of the tract near Russellville helps when you meet an owner or agent.
Neighboring parcel maps
Lawrence County meets Crawford County, Richland County, Wabash County, and Knox County, IN, and each of those keeps its own parcel map. A tract near the line by Billett may be split across two assessors' files, so check the adjacent map as well. For a tract near Pinkstaff, the Platbookmapper state page lists each bordering county map across Illinois.
Backing up the map with records
With a lot near Sumner, the map is an index, not the title: recorded deeds, subdivision plats and easements for parcels in the county are kept by the county Recorder of Deeds (in many counties the County Clerk and Recorder). Closer to Sumner, use the instrument number from the tax record and the lookup takes minutes.
Use the county map alongside FEMA
If only part of a parcel near Pinkstaff is shaded, the location of the house or building pad decides a lot.
How land is described here
Illinois follows the Public Land Survey System, so rural legal descriptions near Pinkstaff cite section, township and range. A standard section is about one square mile, roughly 640 acres, and a township holds 36 of them, though real sections near Pinkstaff vary in size. Keep the legal description for land near Birds when you talk to a surveyor.
Beyond the mapped zones
Small streams around St. Francisville aren't always studied in detail, so walk the land after rain. Wet ground around Pinkstaff is a separate issue from flood zones; check the National Wetlands Inventory mapper for a first look.
Insurance, lenders and building
If a building sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area and a federally regulated lender is involved, the lender will require flood insurance in communities in the NFIP, for land near Birds included. Remodeling a house in a zone near Petrolia usually means extra permit review; call the permitting office before you plan.
Questions to ask before you buy
If you're looking near Birds, request for any Elevation Certificate before closing; getting a quote early avoids surprises.
Quick answers
Is AE a high-risk flood zone for land near St. Francisville?
For a home near Chauncey, an AE zone has a 1% annual chance of flooding and a base flood elevation; unnumbered A zones don't list one.
Why does the BFE matter near Chauncey?
For land near Sumner, the BFE is printed in AE zones on FEMA's map; local rules may require building above it.
Do I need to worry about flooding in Zone X near St. Francisville?
Shaded X is moderate risk and unshaded X is minimal risk; many owners near Bridgeport buy coverage anyway.
When is flood insurance required near Chauncey?
For acreage around Lawrenceville, it's typically required only for structures in high-risk zones with federally backed loans; elsewhere it's optional.
Does the parcel map work on a phone in Lawrence County?
With a lot near Billett, no app is needed for most county viewers; screenshots help offline.
Open the official Lawrence County, IL 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.