202 flood insurance claims·$2.6M 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 Highlands 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.
Tropical storms and hurricanes drive the primary flood risks in Highlands County, supported by historical records from the NOAA Storm Events Database documenting 11 tropical storms, 11 general floods, 7 hurricanes resulting in 4 deaths, and 2 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include major tropical systems such as Hurricane Ian in September 2022, Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, Hurricane Debby in August 2024, and Hurricane Milton in October 2024, which brought severe wind and water impacts across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks affect properties across multiple zones. Zone A accounts for 115 claims with an average payout of $19,289 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Zone X records 65 claims averaging a $31,345 payout with an average water depth of 9 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED registers 17 claims with an average payout of $24,738 and an average water depth of 3 inches, while Zone X_SHADED includes 5 claims averaging an $8,728 payout with an average water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists tracking property vulnerability should pay the most attention to properties in both Zone A and Zone X, as these areas have accumulated the highest number of claims and recorded significant average water depths during past inundation events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
16% of Highlands County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
137 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 2017, with 69 claims and $679,190 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.
14 NOAA storm reports from Highlands County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
37 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 12 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Aug 28, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
31 since 1996: 2 flash floods and 11 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 28, 2022 | $100,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 10, 2022 | $50,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 8, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | May 27, 2018 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Sep 10, 2017 | $360.0M · 4 killed |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Hurricane (Typhoon) · 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 Highlands 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.