28 flood insurance claims·$561,106 paid·6 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 Appling County, Georgia. 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.
Appling County experiences a mix of flood events driven primarily by general floods and tropical systems, with NOAA recording 8 flood events, 7 tropical storms, 6 flash floods, and 1 hurricane over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include flash flooding from a stationary front and diurnal heating on May 11, 2025, as well as widespread inland flooding and flash flooding associated with Hurricane Debby on August 4, 2024. Additionally, Hurricane Helene tracked north-northeast through the region on September 27, 2024, producing peak wind gusts of 55 to 75 mph across the eastern half of the area.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data show varying impacts across different zones. Zone A recorded 15 claims with an average payout of $18,638 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Zone X recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $35,289 and an average recorded water depth of 22 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $19,239 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in Zone X should pay particular attention to flood risks, as this category accounted for the highest average claim payouts and average recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 13 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 2023, with 6 claims and $306,498 paid, the year of Hurricane Idalia.
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.
8 NOAA storm reports from Appling County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 24, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 30, 2023 |
| Hurricane Michael | Oct 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 7, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jan 21, 2017 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
22 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 14, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2025 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Aug 1, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Dec 2, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 14, 2025. Southwest steering flow over a moist and diurnally unstable airmass triggered a few strong thunderstorms along inland progressing sea breezes.
Flash Flood · May 11, 2025. A stationary front meandering across the area combined with diurnal heating and good upper-level divergence promoted localized flash flooding potential.
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Sep 27, 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…
Tropical Storm · Aug 4, 2024. Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 storm along the FL Big Bend coast during the early morning of August 5, 2024. Prior to landfall, outer convective bands produced tornadoes across portions of northeast Florida on August 4th. Widespread flooding moved inland with Debby across the Suwannee River Valley and inland Southeast Georgia where flash flooding and moderate to major river flooding occurred.
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 Appling 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.