470 flood insurance claims·$7.3M paid·10 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 Lake 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 associated rainfall drive the flood risk in Lake County, Florida. Over the past 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 13 tropical storm events resulting in 4 deaths, alongside 6 flood events, 5 flash flood events, 2 tropical depressions, and 1 coastal flood event. Recent events include stationary thunderstorms producing extreme rainfall in October 2025, and Hurricane Milton tracking across central Florida as a hurricane in October 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrate that flood impacts extend across multiple zones. Properties in Zone A account for the highest claim volume with 327 claims averaging $24,986 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 129 claims with a higher average payout of $35,783 and an average recorded water depth of 21 inches. Additional claims include 9 in Zone X_UNSHADED with an average payout of $8,638 and an average water depth of 2 inches, 4 claims in Zone UNKNOWN with $0 payouts, and 1 claim in Zone V with an
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3% of Lake County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
337 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 10 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 108 claims and $2.0M 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.
22 NOAA storm reports from Lake County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
37 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 10 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 Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 23, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
27 since 1996: 5 flash floods, 6 river or area floods and 1 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 26, 2025 | $2.8M |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | $400,000 |
| Flash Flood | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — · 2 killed |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | $1.4M |
| Flood | Oct 9, 2024 | $12.6M |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 29, 2025. Localized heavy rainfall led to flooding in Leesburg.
Flash Flood · Oct 26, 2025. Stationary thunderstorms produced extreme rainfall in Brevard and Lake Counties, as well as a severe wind gust along the coast.
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…
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 Lake 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.