183 flood insurance claims·$4.7M paid·12 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 Mendocino 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.
River and general flooding dominate the historical flood profile of Mendocino County, accounting for 65 out of 67 recorded events over the last 30 years, alongside single instances of flash flooding and coastal flooding. Recent severe weather is exemplified by a series of storm systems in December 2025 that brought heavy rain across Northwest California from December 19 through December 21, causing small stream and main stem river flooding as the Mad and Eel Rivers exceeded moderate flood stage.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims are concentrated in designated high-risk areas, with Zone A accounting for 140 claims averaging $37,256 with an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties outside primary high-risk zones have also experienced losses, including 21 claims in Zone X averaging $44,612 with an average water depth of 12 inches, 11 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED averaging $41,919 with an average water depth of 6 inches, and 4 claims in Zone X_SHADED averaging $17,513 with an average water depth of 10 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located near rivers and streams in Zone A, as well as those in Zone X variants where moderate to significant average water depths have resulted in substantial insurance payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10% of Mendocino County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
155 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 9 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 2005, with 89 claims and $3.7M paid, the year of Hurricane Katrina Evacuation and Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Landslides.
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.
11 NOAA storm reports from Mendocino County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the California flood stories →
33 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 12 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 |
| Wildfires | Sep 4, 2020 |
| Wildfires | Aug 14, 2020 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 24, 2019 |
| Mendocino Fire Complex | Jul 29, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
67 since 1996: 1 flash floods, 65 river or area floods and 1 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Dec 24, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 22, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 21, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 14, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 5, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 31, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Dec 29, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Dec 24, 2025. After a very wet period from December 19th-21st, another round of storms brought more rain and damaging winds to the region in the days leading up to Christmas. Impacts were felt across the region from December 23rd to the 26th. The worst of the winds impacts Mendocino County where most of the coast lost power, some areas for more than 24 hours.
Flood · Dec 22, 2025. Beginning mid-December, a series of storm systems impacted Northwest California with the first set of storms bringing particularly heavy rain from December 19th through December 21st. The heaviest rain occurred in Humboldt County, but impacts were felt across the Northwest California region. Both small stream and main stem river flooding occurred during the event with the Mad and Eel Rivers exceeding moderate floo…
Flood · Dec 21, 2025. Beginning mid-December, a series of storm systems impacted Northwest California with the first set of storms bringing particularly heavy rain from December 19th through December 21st. The heaviest rain occurred in Humboldt County, but impacts were felt across the Northwest California region. Both small stream and main stem river flooding occurred during the event with the Mad and Eel Rivers exceeding moderate floo…
Flood · Feb 14, 2025. A frontal system approaches the area with moisture and cold temperatures aloft, bringing low elevation winter precipitation in some areas.
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 Mendocino 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.