66 flood insurance claims·$1.0M paid·4 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 McIntosh 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 coastal flooding dominate the flood risk profile in McIntosh County, supported by NOAA records showing 29 tropical storm events and 9 coastal flood events over the last 30 years.
Recent history underscores this exposure. In September 2024, Tropical Storm Helene impacted the region after making landfall in Florida as a major hurricane. Similarly, Tropical Storm Idalia brought severe impacts in August 2023, and Tropical Depression Elsa tracked through the area in July 2021.
NFIP claim data indicates that properties located in FEMA flood zones A and V experience the most frequent and costly impacts. Zone A accounts for 43 claims with an average payout of $23,651 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, while Zone V records 9 claims with an average payout of $50,008 and an average water depth of 2 inches. Consequently, coastal property owners and residents in designated high-risk flood zones should pay the closest attention to local flood hazards and insurance requirements.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10% of McIntosh County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
58 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 2 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 38 claims and $868,336 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.
18 NOAA storm reports from McIntosh County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 4 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 Dorian | Aug 29, 2019 |
| Hurricane Michael | Oct 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 7, 2017 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Mar 26, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
53 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 10 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 26, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Depression | Jul 7, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Depression | Sep 4, 2019 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Nov 24, 2018 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Nov 23, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 11, 2017 | $25,000 |
| Tropical Depression | Sep 11, 2017 | $966,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Tropical Storm · Aug 30, 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…
Tropical Depression · Jul 7, 2021. Elsa initially developed as a Tropical Depression over the central tropical Atlantic late in the evening of June 30th, 2021. The system quickly tracked to the west-northwest and became Tropical Storm Elsa on the morning of July 1st, 2021 about 850 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands. Elsa strengthened to a hurricane and crossed the Windward Islands on July 2nd, 2021. Over the next several days, Elsa moved…
Tropical Depression · Sep 4, 2019. Dorian started as a Tropical Depression in the south-central Atlantic Ocean on August 24th. Dorian quickly became a Tropical Storm and moved with a west-northwestward motion as it moved through the Lesser Antilles. Dorian became a Hurricane near Puerto Rico on the evening of August 28th. As it moved to the northwest and then west-northwest, Dorian underwent rapid intensification and became one of the strongest Cat…
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 McIntosh 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.