Canton and La Grange sit on the Mississippi floodplain

Canton and La Grange both front the Mississippi River, and parts of Lewis County’s river edge sit within the floodplain. The river drives flood risk here, and these river towns have long had to manage high water along their riverfronts. Flood-zone designation still varies parcel by parcel, and inland creeks can flood too, so river frontage and low ground are not the only places to check. For a buyer or owner the practical move is to look up a specific parcel’s flood-zone designation at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and to understand what flood protection, if any, applies to that address, rather than assuming the whole town is either safe or at risk. Any levee or drainage district serving these towns is worth identifying, since that affects both risk and flood-insurance requirements.