23 flood insurance claims·$425,656 paid·5 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 Brantley 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.
Tropical storms and associated heavy rainfall dominate the flood risk profile of Brantley County, accounting for 10 tropical storm events, 6 general flood events, and 3 flash flood events over the last 30 years.
Recent storms have produced significant impacts across the region. Hurricane Idalia brought widespread wind and structural damage to the area in August 2023. Subsequently, Hurricane Debby moved inland in August 2024, generating flash flooding and moderate to major river flooding across inland Southeast Georgia. Later that year, Hurricane Helene tracked through the area in September 2024, producing peak wind gusts between 55 and 75 mph across the eastern half of the region along with heavy precipitation.
Property owners within Zone A should pay the most attention to this flood exposure, as National Flood Insurance Program records for this zone document 23 claims with an average payout of $21,283 and an average recorded water depth of 25 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Brantley County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
23 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 25 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 2009, with 18 claims and $382,238 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds.
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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Brantley County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 5 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 Dorian | Aug 29, 2019 |
| Hurricane Michael | Oct 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 7, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jan 21, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
19 since 1996: 3 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 20, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Nov 10, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Dec 3, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 11, 2017 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 10, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · 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…
Flood · Jul 20, 2024. A prevailing SW flow combined with the river, lake and sea breezes converged east of Highway 301 in the late evening over a moist and unstable airmass. Numerous boundary mergers produced a waterspout over the St. Johns River about 2 miles NNE of Orange Miles around 9:30 pm EDT near State Road 207 and Rector Road near Putnam County. The waterspout did not move onshore, and damage was not reported. Other storms prod…
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.
Tropical Storm · Aug 30, 2023. Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning August 30th around 745 AM EDT along the|Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach as a category 3, with the inner core moving NE across the|Suwannee River Valley. The inner wind core of Idalia gradually weakened through the morning while,|heavily impacting Suwannee and Hamilton counties in NE Florida and Echols county SE Georgia as the|circulation tracked NE. Widespread tr…
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 Brantley 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.