123 flood insurance claims·$1.5M 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 Sumter 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.
Sumter County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by tropical storms and regular flood events, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 13 tropical storms, 5 floods, 2 hurricanes, and 2 flash floods over the last 30 years.
Recent activity includes August 2024, when Hurricane Debby brought inland impacts from its track west of the Florida peninsula, and August 2025, when afternoon and evening sea breeze thunderstorms produced street flooding that stranded vehicles near Wildwood.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, with Zone A accounting for 62 claims averaging an 8-inch recorded water depth and a $17,479 payout. Zone X recorded 37 claims with an average water depth of 31 inches and a $19,621 payout, while unshaded Zone X recorded 17 claims averaging a 5-inch water depth and a $25,905 payout. Homeowners in Zone A and Zone X, as well as those with properties vulnerable to severe storm activity and localized street flooding, should pay the most attention to flood risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
22% of Sumter County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
80 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 11 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 2024, with 36 claims and $757,876 paid, the year of Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Sumter County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Florida flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 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 |
| 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.
22 since 1996: 2 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 18, 2025 | $35,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2024 | $4.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 28, 2022 | $250,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 10, 2022 | $100,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 10, 2017 | $18.9M |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 7, 2016 | $35,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 18, 2025. Afternoon and evening sea breeze thunderstorms produce a lightning strike that injures one person near Seminole in Pinellas County, and produce street flooding stranding vehicles near Wildwood in Sumter County.
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2024. Hurricane Milton made landfall along the west-central Florida coast near Siesta Key at 7:30 PM EST on October 9th as a major, Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and a minimum pressure of 954 mb. 2 days prior to landfall on October 7th, Milton reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph and a minimum pressure of 897 mb, making it the 5th mos…
Tropical Storm · Aug 4, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall north of the local area along the Big Bend region of Florida near Steinhatchee around 7 AM EST on August 5th as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and a minimum pressure of 979 mb. Despite Debby���s track west of the Florida peninsula, impacts overspread the area from coastal locations spreading inland.|Storm surge affected the immediate coast from Ft.…
Tropical Storm · Aug 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia made landfall just to the north of the local area near Keaton Beach, FL in Taylor county in Florida's Big Bend as a category 3 hurricane and brought devastating storm surge and wind impacts all along the west Florida coast, especially in closer vicinity to the landfall area across the Nature Coast. Storm surge flooding reached into homes and businesses as far south as Lee county, and the surge inu…
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 Sumter 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.