6 flood insurance claims·$124,028 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 Candler 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.
Flash flooding from severe thunderstorms and tropical weather systems dominates the flood risk profile in Candler County, Georgia, which recorded seven flash flood events, five tropical storms, one hurricane, one tropical depression, and one general flood over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include heavy rainfall and flash flooding from slow-moving thunderstorms in May 2025, when automated rain gages and observers reported 5 to 8 inches of rain, including 8.72 inches at the Metter coop. Tropical systems have also significantly affected the area, such as Tropical Storm Helene in September 2024 and Tropical Storm Debby in August 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties located within high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas require the most attention. Specifically, Zone A properties accounted for five claims with an average payout of $24,806 and an average recorded water depth of 53 inches. By contrast, Zone X—representing moderate-to-low risk areas—recorded only one claim with an average payout of $0 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should focus particularly on properties situated within Zone A, where historical flood events have resulted in significant standing water depths and insurance claims.
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 53 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 4 claims and $102,042 paid, the year of Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Helene.
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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Candler County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| 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 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
15 since 1996: 7 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2025 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2025 | $15,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 7, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 31, 2023 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2023 | $60,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 10, 2018 | — |
| Tropical Depression | Sep 11, 2017 | $250,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 11, 2025. Rounds of heavy rainfall producing thunderstorms tracked across portions of interior southeast Georgia, producing a few instances of flash flooding. The heavy rain developed near a stationary boundary associated with a surface low situated across the lower Mississippi Valley. Some of the heaviest rain fell across Candler and Tattnall counties where automated rain gages and CoCoRaHS observers reported a range of 5-…
Tropical Storm · Sep 26, 2024. Helene first developed into a tropical storm in the northwest Caribbean Sea in the late morning of September 24, and strengthened into a hurricane near the Yucatan peninsula about 24 hours later. Helene continued to strengthen and became a major hurricane as it moved to the north-northeast across the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida in the late evening hours of Septemb…
Flood · Aug 7, 2024. Debby first developed into a tropical storm about 100 miles west-southwest of Key West, Florida late afternoon on August 3rd, then gradually strengthened to a strong tropical storm while tracking north across the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 4th. Debby then reached hurricane force strength late on August 4th about 100 miles west-northwest of Tampa, before continuing a north-northeast track across the eastern G…
Flash Flood · Aug 31, 2023. Idalia first developed into a tropical depression across the western Caribbean Sea near the Yucatan Peninsula on August 26th before slowly gaining strength and becoming a tropical storm on August 27th. The storm then began to take a northward track the next day, passing the western tip of Cuba while gaining strength. On August 29th, Idalia was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane early in the morning, then intensifi…
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 Candler 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.