35,049 flood insurance claims·$457.9M paid·15 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 Broward 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.
Standard riverine and coastal river overflow is absent from Broward County's flood profile, where flooding is instead driven primarily by general floods, coastal flooding, and flash floods. Over the last 30 years, NOAA recorded 79 flood events, 44 coastal flood events, and 35 flash flood events, alongside impacts from tropical storms and hurricanes. Recent weather patterns illustrate these risks, including heavy rainfall and localized urban flooding associated with active showers on March 30, 2025, as well as excessive rainfall from thunderstorms on October 26 through October 27, 2025, driven by a retreating frontal boundary and tropical moisture.
Federal insurance data underscores that flood risks extend across multiple zones, with National Flood Insurance Program claims heavily concentrated in Zone A, which accounts for 30,417 claims with an average payout of $27,520 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties in Zone X have also recorded significant impacts, averaging 15 inches of recorded water depth across 2,534 claims with an average payout of $25,989. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where claim volumes and average water depths demonstrate substantial historical flood vulnerability.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
4% of Broward County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
31,918 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 1999, with 6,520 claims and $19.4M paid, the year of Hurricane Floyd and Hurricane Irene.
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.
119 NOAA storm reports from Broward County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
43 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 15 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 12, 2023 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Hurricane Isaias | Jul 31, 2020 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Aug 28, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
235 since 1996: 35 flash floods, 79 river or area floods and 51 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Aug 31, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 30, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Aug 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 26, 2025 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Oct 26, 2025 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Sep 21, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Sep 12, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Oct 10, 2025 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Aug 31, 2025. A trough of low pressure over the eastern United States, a stationary surface boundary north of the area, and ample moisture over South Florida created an environment where thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall developed over Southeast Florida on August 31, 2025.
Flood · Mar 30, 2025. As a shortwave passed across South Florida on March 30th, the surface heating and substantial moisture supported an afternoon of instability leading to active showers and thunderstorms. The Atlantic sea breeze became pinned along the east coast metro leading to heavy rainfall in coastal Miami-Dade. With ongoing showers, there were several reports of localized, urban flooding in Miami Beach and downtown Miami.
Flood · Aug 29, 2025. A trough of low pressure over the eastern United States, ample moisture over South Florida, and diurnally-driven sea breezes created an environment where strong thunderstorms developed over portions of Southeast Florida on August 29, 2025.
Flash Flood · Oct 26, 2025. A frontal boundary retreating across South Florida and ample low-level tropical moisture allowed for showers and thunderstorms to produce excessive rainfall on the evening of October 26 into the early overnight of October 27 which led to flooding over portions of Southeast Florida.
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 Broward 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.