250 flood insurance claims·$6.0M 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 Marion 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.
Slow-moving summer thunderstorms and tropical systems drive the flood risk in Marion County, supported by NOAA records showing 20 flood events, 17 flash flood events, and 9 tropical storm events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include localized flooding from heavy rainfall caused by slow-moving storms and sea breeze mergers in July and August 2025, as well as wind damage from Hurricane Helene as it tracked north-northeast following a Category 4 landfall in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage is not confined to designated high-risk areas. While Zone A accounts for 123 claims with an average payout of $49,319 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches, moderate- and low-risk areas also experience significant water intrusion. Zone X recorded 72 claims averaging $38,406 with an average water depth of 23 inches, and unshaded Zone X recorded 48 claims averaging $34,857 with an average water depth of 5 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in traditional high-risk flood zones like Zone A, while remaining aware that properties in Zone X and unshaded Zone X face substantial flood and standing water risks that frequently result in insurance claims.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
28% of Marion County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
172 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 14 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 64 claims and $3.3M 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Marion County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
38 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 12 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 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Idalia | Aug 27, 2023 |
| Hurricane Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
46 since 1996: 17 flash floods and 20 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jul 22, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 15, 2025 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 24, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 22, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 17, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jul 22, 2025. A trough extended across the local area, and an area of low pressure formed along the trough axis and retrograded into the Gulf of America during this period. Waves of heavy, slow moving storms produced localized flooding rainfall. A few stronger storms produced gusty wet downbursts.
Flash Flood · Aug 15, 2025. High moisture content and slow storm motion caused localized, flooding rainfall across Marion County where sea breeze storm mergers occurred in the evening.
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a category 4 with peak winds of near 140 mph in the Florida Big |Bend just east of the Aucilla River Entrance in Taylor County, late Thursday evening September 26, |2024. Helene's main impact to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida was wind damage as it |tracked quickly north-northeast. The very powerful hurricane and the forward motion produced a |wide swath of wind damage ac…
Flood · Aug 24, 2024. A surface low meandered offshore of the NE FL coastal along a stalled front. Passing upper-level short wave trough energy, high moisture and slow storm motion produced locally heavy rainfall and pulse strong storms with wet downbursts in resultant storms. Storms impacted coastal areas in the morning, then with diurnal heating shift inland.
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 Marion 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.