184 flood insurance claims·$4.2M paid·10 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 Bradford County, Florida. 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.
Flooding in Bradford County is predominantly driven by floods and tropical storms, accounting for 14 and 12 events respectively over the last 30 years, alongside 2 flash flood events. Recent tropical systems have significantly impacted the region, including Hurricane Debby in August 2024, which brought tornadoes from outer bands and widespread inland flooding across the Suwannee River Valley, as well as the passage of Tropical Storm Milton in October 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage occurs in both high- and moderate-to-low-risk areas. Properties in Zone A account for 129 claims with an average payout of $30,891 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X account for 50 claims with an average payout of $35,175 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, while Zone UNKNOWN and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded minimal claims with lower average payouts and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners and real estate agents in both designated high-risk zones and moderate-to-low-risk Zone X areas should pay close attention to flood risks, given that both zones have experienced repetitive claims and recorded water depths during past events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Bradford County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
130 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 2 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 2017, with 89 claims and $3.2M paid, the year of Hurricane Irma.
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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Bradford County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1997, 10 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 23, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 23, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
28 since 1996: 2 flash floods and 14 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 23, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Aug 28, 2022 | $35,000 |
| Flood | Sep 21, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Sep 10, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a category 4 with peak winds of near 140 mph in the Florida Big |Bend just east of the Aucilla River Entrance in Taylor County, late Thursday evening September 26, |2024. Helene's main impact to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida was wind damage as it |tracked quickly north-northeast. The very powerful hurricane and the forward motion produced a |wide swath of wind damage ac…
Flood · Jul 23, 2024. Prevailing SSE steering flow focused the daytime sea breeze and boundary collisions across interior NE FL between the I-75 and Highway 301 corridors. Locally gusty winds and heavy, flooding rainfall occurred.
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2024. A tropical disturbance over the southwest Gulf of Mexico quickly developed into Tropical Storm |Milton on Saturday, October 5th. Milton then moved slowly east-southeastward, strengthening into a |hurricane the following day. On Monday, October 7th, the storm underwent rapid intensification, |reaching Category 5 strength as it neared the northwestern coast of Mexico's Yucat��n Peninsula. Late |on Monday and int…
Tropical Storm · Aug 4, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 storm along the FL Big Bend coast during the early morning of August 5, 2024. Prior to landfall, outer convective bands produced tornadoes across portions of northeast Florida on August 4th. Widespread flooding moved inland with Debby across the Suwannee River Valley and inland Southeast Georgia where flash flooding and moderate to major river flooding occurred.
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 Bradford 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.