207 flood insurance claims·$4.0M paid·8 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 El Dorado County, California. 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.
Prolonged river and roadway flooding from winter storms and atmospheric rivers dominates the flood profile of El Dorado County, with 72 flood events and 3 deaths recorded over the last 30 years compared to only 3 flash flood events. Recent events illustrate this pattern, such as a warm atmospheric river system that dropped 5 to 10 inches of rain over the mountains and 3 to 6 inches in the foothills and valley from February 1st through 2nd, 2025, causing road flooding, mud, and rock-covered roadways. A subsequent winter storm from February 12th through 14th, 2025, brought 1 to 6 inches of rain alongside heavy snow, resulting in further road flooding and downed trees.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that residents in multiple zones face financial risk, with average recorded water depths ranging from 1 inch in Zone X_SHADED (averaging $2,465 per claim) to 12 inches in Zone X (averaging $31,827 per claim), and up to an average of 11 inches in Zone D with an average payout of $135,588. Property owners in designated Special Flood Hazard Areas like Zone A, as well as those in various Zone X classifications and undetermined Zone D areas, should pay the most attention to flood preparedness given these historical claim and depth averages.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
41% of El Dorado County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
145 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 8 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 1997, with 40 claims and $645,130 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.
37 NOAA storm reports from El Dorado County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the California flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 9, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 21, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Jan 8, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Dec 27, 2022 |
| Mosquito Fire | Sep 9, 2022 |
| Caldor Fire | Aug 14, 2021 |
| Wildfires | Aug 14, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 24, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
75 since 1996: 3 flash floods and 72 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Dec 24, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 22, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Nov 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Nov 22, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 20, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Dec 24, 2025. A prolonged period of wet weather brought heavy snowfall and strong winds to the Sierra Nevada. Heaviest snowfall was observed from 12/24-12/26 when snow levels came down below the mountain passes. Snowfall measurements over the 12/24-12/26 timeframe were around 2-5 ft per Caltrans, Ski resorts, and UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. Southerly wind gusts of 50-80 mph were observed as well across the Valley, foot…
Flood · Dec 22, 2025. A series of atmospheric rivers brought moderate to heavy precipitation to interior northern California in the third week of December through the Christmas holiday. A Convergence Zone set up over Redding/Shasta County around 1 PM on Sunday, December 21. Heavy rain fell until around 7 PM, where there was a lull before another line redeveloped and brought additional moderate to heavy rain into the late evening. Over…
Flood · Nov 13, 2025. An Atmospheric River in the middle of November brought light mountain snow, widespread rainfall with roadway flooding, gusty winds, and thunderstorms from November 12th through November 14th. Around 1 to 4 inches of rain were observed across interior northern California over this 48 hour period. Gusty southerly winds of 25 to 65 mph were also observed as well. 4 to 12 inches of snow was estimated to have fallen at…
Flood · Feb 13, 2025. A strong winter storm from late February 12th into Friday, February 14th brought heavy snow, rain, and gusty winds. This brought from 1 to 6 inches of rain, with totals of 2 to nearly 4 feet of heavy snow above 4500 feet. Gusty southerly wind gusts of 25 to 50 mph in the Valley, 40 to 60 mph in the mountains and foothills were recorded. Roads were reported to be flooded, as well as covered with mud and rocks in so…
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 El Dorado 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.