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St. Louis Region

The Mississippi side means levees, drainage, and flood maps

Lincoln County's eastern edge is Mississippi River bottomland protected by levees and drainage districts, so flood-zone status and assessments matter for land near Winfield and Elsberry.

Lincoln County’s eastern boundary is the Mississippi River, and the low ground behind it near Winfield and Elsberry is bottomland farmed and lived on behind levees. That setup brings two practical questions for buyers. First, flood-zone status: a parcel in or near the bottoms can sit in a mapped floodplain, which affects building, insurance, and lending, and the federal flood maps are the place to check. Second, levee and drainage districts: these are special-purpose bodies, separate from the county, that manage water and levy their own assessments on the land they protect. Knowing whether a parcel is inside a district explains part of the tax picture and how flooding is handled. Check the federal flood maps and identify any levee or drainage district before buying river-bottom land.

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