499 flood insurance claims·$14.7M paid·6 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 Merced 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.
Merced County experiences standard riverine and widespread flooding far more frequently than flash flooding, according to the last 30 years of NOAA data recording 127 general flood events compared to only 6 flash flood events. Recent weather systems have repeatedly impacted the area, including a cold front that produced localized nuisance flooding on March 17, 2025, and a progressive storm system that dropped between three-quarters and an inch and a half of rainfall across the county on January 22, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties located within FEMA Zone A face the highest risk and historical impact, accounting for 477 total claims with an average payout of $42,642 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. By comparison, Zone X properties have recorded significantly fewer incidents, with 15 claims averaging $30,578 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within FEMA Zone A, where historical claim frequency, average payout amounts, and recorded water depths are substantially higher than in any other designated zone within the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Merced County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
480 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 6 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 2023, with 203 claims and $10.1M paid, the year of Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides, Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides and Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
113 NOAA storm reports from Merced County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the California flood stories →
19 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 6 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 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Feb 1, 2017 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Jan 3, 2017 |
| Severe Freeze | Jan 11, 2007 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 29, 2006 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
133 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 127 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 17, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 22, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 20, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 19, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 4, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 4, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Mar 24, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 17, 2025. An upper trough and associated cold front pushed through central California on March 17 bringing rain, mountain snow mainly above 6000 feet and gusty winds across the West Side Hills and to portions of eastern Kern County. The precipitation arrived by the morning of March 17 and spread southward through the day. Thunderstorms broke out during the afternoon of March 17 in the cooler and unstable airmass behind the…
Flash Flood · Feb 13, 2025. A large upper low pressure system and associated trough moved across California on February 13 bringing widespread moderate to heavy precipitation to the area along with damaging wind gusts. Several reports of nuisance flooding were reported on February 13. There were also several reports of trees and power lines knocked down by strong wind gusts as several station reported gusts above 60 mph and a few stations ha…
Flood · Jan 22, 2024. Following the departure of a storm which brought light to moderate precipitation to the area between the morning of January 20 and the early afternoon of January 21, a second system moved through central California between the late evening of January 21 and the afternoon of January 22. This system produced three quarters to an inch and a half of rainfall over Merced County and a half inch to an inch of liquid pre…
Flood · Jan 20, 2024. An upper level trough pushed into northern California during the evening of January 19. Moisture associated with this system produced a period of light to moderate precipitation in central California between the early morning of January 20 and the afternoon of January 21. Much of Merced County picked up between a quarter and a half inch of rainfall while the Sierra Nevada from Fresno County northward picked up bet…
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 Merced 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.