45 flood insurance claims·$893,776 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 Coffee 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.
Coffee County experiences a flood risk profile driven by a mix of general floods, tropical storms, flash floods, and hurricanes, including one recorded hurricane fatality over the last 30 years according to the NOAA Storm Events Database. Recent regional impacts include Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, Hurricane Debby bringing widespread inland flooding and flash flooding to Southeast Georgia in August 2024, and Hurricane Helene producing a wide swath of wind damage as it tracked north-northeast in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed across multiple zones with varying severity. Zone A accounts for 27 claims with an average payout of $29,429 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Zone X accounts for 15 claims averaging an $18,154 payout with an average recorded water depth of 28 inches. Additionally, Zone X shaded accounts for 2 claims with an average payout of $6,070 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, while an unknown zone recorded 1 claim with a $0 payout and 0 inches of recorded water depth.
Property owners and residents in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to flood risks, as these zones have accumulated the highest number of historical insurance claims and notable average water depths during past inundation events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Coffee County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
29 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 12 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 10 claims and $315,015 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.
7 NOAA storm reports from Coffee County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 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 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
| Mosley Road Fire | Mar 24, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
20 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Oct 10, 2025 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Sep 27, 2024 | — · 1 killed |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Apr 24, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 10, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 2, 2016 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 1, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
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.
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 Coffee 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.