11 flood insurance claims·$48,325 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 Jeff Davis 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 and tropical storms drive the flood risk in Jeff Davis County, supported by a historical mix of tropical storms, standard floods, flash floods, and hurricanes. Recent impacts include major rainfall and flooding from Hurricane Debby in August 2024, as well as localized flooding driven by diurnal storms and moist airmasses in July and September 2024, alongside wind damage from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed across multiple zones, including Zone A with 4 claims averaging a $751 payout and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches; Zone X with 4 claims averaging a $12,536 payout and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches; unknown zones with 2 claims averaging a $4,982 payout and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches; and shaded Zone X with 1 claim averaging a $0 payout and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in both standard flood hazard areas and moderate-to-low risk zones, as historical claims and payouts occur across multiple designated flood zones.
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 4 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 2017, with 2 claims and $20,617 paid, the year of Hurricane Irma.
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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Jeff Davis 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 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Dec 22, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
15 since 1996: 4 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jul 29, 2024 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Sep 27, 2024 | — · 2 killed |
| Flood | Sep 13, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Jan 2, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Mar 5, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 1, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jul 29, 2024. Diurnal instability with sea breeze and upper-level short wave trough forcing triggered strong to severe storms with locally heavy across SE GA in the afternoon and evening.
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…
Flood · Sep 13, 2024. A continued moist airmass and weak storm motion produced diurnally enhanced showers and isolated storms with localized flooding.
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 Jeff Davis 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.