3,349 flood insurance claims·$66.1M paid·13 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 Indian River 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.
Flooding in Indian River County is primarily driven by general floods and tropical storms, based on NOAA storm event records over the last 30 years. Recent notable events include Tropical Storm and Flash Flood occurrences associated with Hurricane Milton in October 2024, as well as tropical storm conditions from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates varying impacts across flood zones. Zone A accounts for the highest volume with 1,952 claims averaging a $40,241 payout and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Zone X recorded 969 claims with an average payout of $30,709 and an average water depth of 7 inches, while Zone X Shaded saw 258 claims averaging a $35,773 payout and an average water depth of 4 inches. Zone X Unshaded logged 95 claims with an average payout of $23,992 and an average water depth of 13 inches. Zone V recorded 62 claims, yielding the highest average payout at $78,865 with an average water depth of 3 inches.
Property owners in Zone A and Zone V should pay the closest attention to flood risks due to high claim volumes and severe payout averages, alongside residents in Zone X Unshaded where recorded average water depths reached 13 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Indian River County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
2,367 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 5 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 2004, with 2,226 claims and $50.8M paid, the year of Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances, Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne.
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.
19 NOAA storm reports from Indian River County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
35 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 13 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| 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 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 4, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
27 since 1996: 6 flash floods, 10 river or area floods and 2 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Nov 16, 2023 | $400,000 |
| Storm Surge/Tide | Sep 29, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 28, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2022 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Nov 9, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Major Hurricane Helene paralleled the west coast of Florida about 100 miles offshore before making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida near the city of Perry. The system's expansive wind field within its eastern periphery produced a period of tropical storm conditions, particularly in gusts, across much of east central Florida including its adjacent coastal waters. Peak wind gusts ranged between 45 - 55 mph…
Flash Flood · Oct 9, 2024. Hurricane Milton moved ashore the west-central Florida coast as a category 3 hurricane on Oct 9 around 1930EST. The system continued slowly in an east-northeast trajectory across central Florida, becoming a category 1 hurricane before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. The outer rainbands of Milton overspread the Florida peninsula earlier in the day, leading to a prolific tornado outbreak across…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2024. Hurricane Milton moved ashore the west-central Florida coast as a category 3 hurricane on Oct 9 around 1930EST. The system continued slowly in an east-northeast trajectory across central Florida, becoming a category 1 hurricane before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. The outer rainbands of Milton overspread the Florida peninsula earlier in the day, leading to a prolific tornado outbreak across…
Flood · Nov 16, 2023. A low pressure system near the Florida peninsula brought strong gradient winds and flooding rainfall to east central 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 Indian River 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.