1,744 flood insurance claims·$75.3M paid·11 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 Clay 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.
Clay County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by general floods and tropical storms, with 21 flood events and 6 tropical storm events recorded over the last 30 years alongside 5 flash flood events and 1 coastal flood event. Severe weather impacts are illustrated by recent events, such as an extended nor'easter producing coastal flooding along the St. Johns River basin in October 2025, and heavy localized flooding driven by a surface front in August 2025. Hurricane Helene also brought wind damage and impacts to the region in September 2024, while a slow-moving storm produced localized flooding in August 2025.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located in Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of National Flood Insurance Program claims in the county with 1,216 claims averaging $58,183 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties in Zone X, which recorded 451 claims averaging $46,161 with an average water depth of 4 inches, and other moderate-risk zones also require attention given historical payouts and recorded water depths across various flood designations.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Clay County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,276 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 2017, with 793 claims and $60.3M 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.
22 NOAA storm reports from Clay County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
38 federal disaster declarations since 1992, 11 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Hurricane 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 |
| Tropical Storm Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
33 since 1996: 5 flash floods, 21 river or area floods and 1 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Aug 7, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2025 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Oct 3, 2025 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 22, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 14, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 5, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Aug 7, 2025. A surface front draped across northeast Florida combined with very high moisture and lift under an upper-level trough produced heavy, localized flooding rainfall.
Flash Flood · Aug 6, 2025. A front was just north of the local area with southwest steering flow in place. The front edge closer through the day, with an influx of moisture from the Gulf and steepening lapse rates aloft with the approach of a mid level trough. Diurnal heating combined with high moisture produced sea breezes, with a merger across inland northeast Florida in the late afternoon where a few strong to pulse severe storms develop…
Coastal Flood · Oct 3, 2025. An extended duration nor'easter developed on September 30th and continued through October 6th. This event produced an extended period onshore flow combined with a period of high astronomical tides (spring or neap tides). The higher-than-normal tides combined with storm surge with the local nor'easter produced minor to moderate tidal flooding daily around high tides. The more impacted tidal flooding locations inclu…
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…
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 Clay 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.