621 flood insurance claims·$10.6M 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 Putnam 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.
Standard flooding and tropical storms drive the primary flood hazards in Putnam County, supported by 16 general flood events and 8 tropical storm events—including 3 associated fatalities—recorded over the last 30 years alongside flash and coastal flooding. Recent NOAA storm records illustrate these varied threats, including an extended nor'easter in October 2025 that produced minor to moderate daily tidal flooding along the St. Johns River basin, and Hurricane Helene in September 2024, which brought wind damage across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrates that risk extends across multiple zones, with the vast majority concentrated in Zone A, which accounts for 524 claims averaging $23,040 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties outside mapped high-risk areas also experience losses; for example, Zone X recorded 47 claims averaging $30,877 with an average water depth of 2 inches, while Zone X shaded recorded 2 claims averaging $53,030 with an average water depth of 1 inch.
Property owners in Zone A, along with those situated near tidal waterways like the St. Johns River and within moderate-risk Zone X designations, should pay the closest attention to flood preparedness given the historical frequency of tropical systems, nor'easters, and localized heavy rainfall.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Putnam County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
552 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 2017, with 188 claims and $4.2M 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.
21 NOAA storm reports from Putnam County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
40 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 13 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Milton | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Hurricane 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 |
| Tropical Storm Nicole | Nov 7, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
35 since 1996: 8 flash floods, 16 river or area floods and 3 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Flood | Oct 10, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Aug 8, 2025 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Oct 1, 2025 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 12, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Coastal Flood · Oct 10, 2025. An extended duration local nor'easter wind event developed October 9th and persisted through the 12th between high pressure wedging down the SE US coast and a sharpening coastal trough axis over the local coastal waters. Gusty winds of 40-51 mph impacted coastal areas, with the strongest winds from 10/9 in the afternoon through 10/10 in the evening along the Duval county coast of 51 mph. Tidal flooding reached mod…
Flood · Aug 8, 2025. A stalled front and high moisture across the area combined with slow storm motion produced locally heavy, briefing flooding rainfall.
Coastal Flood · Oct 1, 2025. An extended duration nor'easter developed on September 30th and continued through October 6th. This event produced an extended period onshore flow combined with a period of high astronomical tides (spring or neap tides). The higher-than-normal tides combined with storm surge with the local nor'easter produced minor to moderate tidal flooding daily around high tides. The more impacted tidal flooding locations inclu…
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…
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 Putnam 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.