62 flood insurance claims·$511,007 paid·4 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Lee County, Alabama. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Flash flooding from slow-moving storm systems and thunderstorms dominates the flood history of Lee County, accounting for 25 out of 33 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside tropical storms, depressions, and general floods.
Recent occurrences include a flash flood event on February 11, 2024, when a slow-moving storm system brought up to 8 inches of rainfall to parts of Lee County and caused flooding along the Interstate 85 corridor, as well as an all-hazards weather event on April 6, 2025, driven by slow-moving thunderstorms.
Homeowners and real estate agents should pay close attention to properties located across multiple FEMA zones, particularly Zone A, which recorded 29 NFIP claims with an average payout of $9,365 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, and Zone X, which recorded 19 claims with an average payout of $29,842 and an average recorded water depth of 60 inches. Additional claims occurred in Zone X unshaded (8 claims, average payout of $6,113, average water depth of 4 inches), unknown zones (5 claims, average payout of $1,523, average water depth of 1 inch), and Zone X shaded (1 claim, average payout of $2,828, average water depth of 1 inch).
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
24% of Lee County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
38 NFIP claims with a recorded rated flood zone, 1978 to date. The zone is the one FEMA used to rate that policy, which may not match today’s map. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 14 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 1981, with 9 claims and $15,040 paid.
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
12 NOAA storm reports from Lee County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 22, 2024 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Mar 3, 2019 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 28, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 27, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 15, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
33 since 1996: 25 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 6, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 12, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 11, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 3, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 4, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 19, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 6, 2025. Deep-layer ridging over the Southeast United States held up a trough over the Central United States for the first few days of April, leading to a prolonged and significant severe weather and flooding event from Texas to Ohio and West Virginia along a stalled boundary. As the ridge began to retreat eastward, a cold front slowly progressed through Central Alabama on April 6, with an all-hazards weather event unfoldi…
Flash Flood · Feb 12, 2024. A slow-moving storm system brought several inches of rainfall to most of Central Alabama from early morning on February 11 through the evening of February 12. While most areas saw at least 1-2 inches of rain, parts of southern and southeastern Central Alabama recorded as much as 8 inches, especially across parts of Lee, Macon, and Russell counties. Waves of heavy rainfall resulted in flooding along the Interstate…
Flash Flood · Feb 11, 2024. A slow-moving storm system brought several inches of rainfall to most of Central Alabama from early morning on February 11 through the evening of February 12. While most areas saw at least 1-2 inches of rain, parts of southern and southeastern Central Alabama recorded as much as 8 inches, especially across parts of Lee, Macon, and Russell counties. Waves of heavy rainfall resulted in flooding along the Interstate…
Flash Flood · May 9, 2024. An upper-level shortwave moving southward across the South along with an associated surface cold front instigated an outbreak of severe weather across Tennessee and North Alabama. This activity reached Central Alabama by the morning of May 9 in the form of a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) which affected portions of the state east of I-65 with numerous reports of tree damage. A second wave of activity during the…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Lee County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.