207 flood insurance claims·$2.5M 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 Lafayette 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.
Lafayette County experiences a flood risk profile driven primarily by tropical storms and general flooding events, followed by hurricanes and flash floods. Over the past 30 years, NOAA records document 15 tropical storms, 12 floods, 8 hurricanes, and 5 flash flood events. Major regional impacts are illustrated by recent storms, such as Hurricane Idalia in August 2023 and Hurricane Debby in August 2024, which brought heavy rainfall and severe flooding to the Florida Big Bend region, as well as Hurricane Helene in September 2024, which produced a devastating storm surge exceeding 15 feet along the coast of Apalachee Bay.
Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance claims data shows that Zone A carries the highest burden with 149 claims, an average payout of $17,525, and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties in Zone UNKNOWN accounted for 50 claims with an average payout of $8,338 and an average water depth of 3 inches. Zone X recorded 7 claims with an average payout of $25,405 and an average water depth of 44 inches, while Zone X_SHADED recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $0 and an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of historical flood claims in the area, as well as properties in Zone X that have experienced significant water depths during past inundation events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Lafayette County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
150 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 1998, with 49 claims and $424,216 paid.
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.
28 NOAA storm reports from Lafayette County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
35 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 11 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 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | May 10, 2024 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
40 since 1996: 5 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Sep 26, 2024 | $1.0B |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 5, 2024 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 5, 2024 | $5.0M |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 30, 2023 | $7.5M |
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 10, 2022 | $3,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 7, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Aug 6, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Hurricane (Typhoon) · 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 · Aug 5, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall along the Taylor County coast as a Category 1 Hurricane on the morning of Monday August 5th. In addition to storm surge flooding along the FL Big Bend coast, around 12 inches of rainfall lead to widespread flooding in Madison and Taylor counties. In particular, rainfall in Southeast Madison County corresponded to a 0.2% annual chance occurrence or a 500 year flood event. Long duration…
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Aug 5, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall along the Taylor County coast as a Category 1 Hurricane on the morning of Monday August 5th. In addition to storm surge flooding along the FL Big Bend coast, around 12 inches of rainfall lead to widespread flooding in Madison and Taylor counties. In particular, rainfall in Southeast Madison County corresponded to a 0.2% annual chance occurrence or a 500 year flood event. Long duration…
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Aug 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia made landfall on the morning of August 30th along the coast of Taylor County Florida near Keaton Beach at approximately 745 am EDT. The hurricane made landfall with estimated sustained winds of 125 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the first major hurricane on record to make landfall in this portion of Florida. Hurricane Idalia moved inland across th…
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 Lafayette 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.