165 flood insurance claims·$2.8M paid·16 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 Holmes 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.
Holmes County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by standard floods and flash floods, supplemented by tropical storms and hurricanes. Over the last 30 years, NOAA recorded 63 flood events, 49 flash flood events, 15 tropical storm events, and 4 hurricane events. Recent severe weather includes a major flash flood event from April 10–11, 2024, and multiple flash flood events associated with Category 4 Hurricane Helene on September 25–26, 2024, which featured 140 mph maximum sustained winds and a storm surge exceeding 15 feet along the Apalachee Bay coast.
National Flood Insurance Program records reflect claims across different zones with varying impacts. Properties in Zone A account for 130 claims with an average payout of $18,247 and an average recorded water depth of 17 inches. Zone X properties account for 23 claims with an average payout of $30,991 and an average recorded water depth of 24 inches. Properties with an unknown zone account for 12 claims with an average payout of $8,804 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, which received the highest volume of insurance claims, as well as properties in Zone X, which experienced higher average payout costs and greater recorded water depths during flood events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Holmes 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 17 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 1998, with 60 claims and $600,462 paid, the year of Hurricane Georges and Hurricane Grorges.
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.
89 NOAA storm reports from Holmes County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
39 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 16 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 23, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 23, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 1, 2024 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Fred | Aug 13, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
131 since 1996: 49 flash floods and 63 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 25, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 17, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 10, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 24, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 16, 2021 | $50,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb (27.70 inches) at about 11:10 PM EDT on Thursday, September 26th, in Taylor County Florida just east of the Aucilla River. Helene quickly moved inland across Taylor and Madison Counties before moving into Lowndes County in South Central Georgia. The hurricane produced a devastat…
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb (27.70 inches) at about 11:10 PM EDT on Thursday, September 26th, in Taylor County Florida just east of the Aucilla River. Helene quickly moved inland across Taylor and Madison Counties before moving into Lowndes County in South Central Georgia. The hurricane produced a devastat…
Flash Flood · Sep 25, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb (27.70 inches) at about 11:10 PM EDT on Thursday, September 26th, in Taylor County Florida just east of the Aucilla River. Helene quickly moved inland across Taylor and Madison Counties before moving into Lowndes County in South Central Georgia. The hurricane produced a devastat…
Flash Flood · May 17, 2024. During the early morning hours of May 17th, a long lived derecho that impacted the north central Gulf coast clipped portions of Gulf and Franklin counties with significant wind gusts in excess of hurricane force measured, along with impacts to trees and power lines and minor structural damage. Later in the day and on May 18th, additional rounds of severe storms impacted the tri-state area with damage to trees and…
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 Holmes 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.