31 flood insurance claims·$401,371 paid·7 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 Rabun 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 general flooding driven by heavy rainfall dominate the flood profile of Rabun County, with tropical storms also contributing to local flood hazards based on thirty years of NOAA records.
Recent events illustrate these risks, including the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Helene in September 2024, which brought heavy rain showers and thunderstorms from a moisture plume interacting with a slow-moving cold front. Additionally, a stalled frontal zone dropped 1 to 2.5 inches of rain in just a few hours during September 2022, causing isolated flash flooding in the Tallulah River basin.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data shows that high-risk Zone A properties have experienced the highest frequency of damage, logging 24 claims with an average payout of $29,266 and an average recorded water depth of 26 inches. Properties in unshaded Zone X recorded 4 claims with an average payout of $18,735 and an average recorded water depth of 50 inches, while standard Zone X properties recorded 3 claims with an average payout of $4,503 and an average water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners in Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to flood risks given these historical claim patterns and water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
14% of Rabun County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
28 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 31 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 2004, with 12 claims and $185,697 paid, the year of Tropical Storm Frances and Hurricane Ivan.
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.
14 NOAA storm reports from Rabun County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Georgia flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 24, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Mar 25, 2021 |
| Tropical Storm Zeta | Oct 29, 2020 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 7, 2017 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 10, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Associated Flooding | Apr 27, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 27, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
34 since 1996: 18 flash floods and 14 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $500 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 5, 2022 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Oct 7, 2021 | $1,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Oct 11, 2020 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Oct 11, 2020 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Tropical Storm · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Flash Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Flash Flood · Sep 5, 2022. Heavy rain fell off and on throughout the first few days of September in the vicinity of a stalled frontal zone. A period of heavy rain during the morning of the 5th resulted in 1 to 2.5 inches in just a few hours across southern Rabun County, resulting in isolated flash flooding in the Tallulah River basin.
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 Rabun 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.