3,245 flood insurance claims·$137.8M 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 Hernando 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.
Hernando County experiences flood risk primarily driven by standard flooding events and tropical storms. Over the past 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 22 flood events and 18 tropical storm events, alongside 3 storm surge or tide events and 3 flash flood events.
Recent tropical systems have caused significant impacts in the area, notably Hurricane Milton in October 2024 and Hurricane Debby in August 2024. During Hurricane Debby, storm surge affected the immediate coast with water levels peaking over 4 feet above normal.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrates that properties in designated high-risk zones face the highest frequency and severity of financial loss. Zone A accounts for 2,139 claims with an average payout of $58,792 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Zone V accounts for 850 claims with an average payout of $33,931 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X recorded 125 claims with an average payout of $28,295 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches, and Zone X Unshaded recorded 86 claims with an average payout of $27,922 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Zone Unknown recorded 33 claims with an average payout of $8,846 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Coastal property owners and residents located in FEMA flood zones A and V should pay the closest attention to these risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3% of Hernando County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
3,086 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 2024, with 1,058 claims and $81.5M paid, the year of Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
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.
25 NOAA storm reports from Hernando County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
40 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 12 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.
46 since 1996: 3 flash floods, 22 river or area floods and 3 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 28, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 28, 2022 | $25,000 |
| Flood | May 22, 2022 | $30,000 |
| Flood | Mar 12, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 10, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2024. Hurricane Milton made landfall along the west-central Florida coast near Siesta Key at 7:30 PM EST on October 9th as a major, Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and a minimum pressure of 954 mb. 2 days prior to landfall on October 7th, Milton reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph and a minimum pressure of 897 mb, making it the 5th mos…
Tropical Storm · Aug 4, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall north of the local area along the Big Bend region of Florida near Steinhatchee around 7 AM EST on August 5th as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and a minimum pressure of 979 mb. Despite Debby���s track west of the Florida peninsula, impacts overspread the area from coastal locations spreading inland.|Storm surge affected the immediate coast from Ft.…
Tropical Storm · Aug 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia made landfall just to the north of the local area near Keaton Beach, FL in Taylor county in Florida's Big Bend as a category 3 hurricane and brought devastating storm surge and wind impacts all along the west Florida coast, especially in closer vicinity to the landfall area across the Nature Coast. Storm surge flooding reached into homes and businesses as far south as Lee county, and the surge inu…
Tropical Storm · Sep 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian formed in the central Caribbean Sea on September 23 and moved through the western Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Western Atlantic making four separate landfalls. The first landfall was in the Pinar Del Rio Province of Cuba at 0830 UTC on September 27 with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and a minimum pressure of 952 mb, before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico later that morning. Ian made its se…
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 Hernando 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.