Some Gloucester residents may find themselves in a floodplain area for the first time, which may impact whether they will need to purchase flood insurance and, if they already have flood insurance, their annual rates.

Gloucester officials will hold an informational public open house from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Achilles Elementary School for residents to review the changes and ask questions about the preliminary FEMA flood insurance rate maps.

According to Gloucester’s building official Paul Koll, about 5,000 postcards were mailed earlier this month to all county residents whose property may be at flood risk. He urged those who received the postcards to check their current flood risk on the FEMA updated coastal flood insurance rate maps, which can be found by visiting the county’s website at www.gloucesterva.info. 

If possible, Koll asks residents to bring a printout of their properties from that map to Tuesday’s informational meeti...