1,495 flood insurance claims·$47.7M 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 Kauai County, Hawaii. 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 heavy rainfall and thunderstorms dominates the flood risk in Kauai County. Over the past 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 148 flash flood events resulting in 9 deaths, alongside 61 general flood events causing 1 death. Recent occurrences include severe flash flooding driven by a strong low-pressure system and surface troughs in April 2024, which forced evacuations and caused road closures, as well as a mid-level trough in July 2025 that brought nearly eight inches of rainfall in 24 hours to Mt. Wai'ale'ale.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones with varying impacts. Zone A leads with 641 claims averaging $43,269 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Zone X recorded 437 claims averaging $58,058 with an average water depth of 20 inches, while Zone V registered 271 claims averaging $64,005 with an average water depth of 15 inches. Additionally, unshaded Zone X accounts for 110 claims with an average payout of $86,470 and an average water depth of 9 inches, and shaded Zone X includes 18 claims averaging $56,599 with an average water depth of 5 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in high-risk riverine and coastal environments, particularly within Zones A and V, as well as properties in Zone X areas that have experienced significant average water depths during past flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
12% of Kauai County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,040 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 11 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 1992, with 729 claims and $30.9M paid, the year of Hurricane Iniki.
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.
39 NOAA storm reports from Kauai County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Hawaii flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides | Apr 11, 2024 |
| Hurricane Douglas | Jul 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 27, 2020 |
| Tropical Storm Olivia | Sep 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Lane | Aug 22, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 13, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides | Mar 3, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Dec 10, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
209 since 1996: 148 flash floods and 61 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 20, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 12, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 12, 2024 | $6.5M |
| Flash Flood | Apr 12, 2024 | $7.0M |
| Flash Flood | Apr 11, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 30, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 29, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 24, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 20, 2025. A mid level trough combined with an upper level low and enhanced moisture allowed significant flooding to occur over portions of Kauai. Mt Wai'ale'ale recorded nearly eight inches of rainfall in a twenty four hour period.
Flash Flood · Apr 12, 2024. A strong low pressure system to the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands along with an associated surface trough brought abundant moisture and an unstable atmosphere to the region. This moisture and instability led to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms primarily over the island of Kauai. During the early morning of April twelve, a band of heavy showers with embedded thunderstorms moved over the island of Kauai. There w…
Flash Flood · Apr 11, 2024. A strong low pressure system to the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands along with an associated surface trough brought abundant moisture and an unstable atmosphere to the region. This moisture and instability led to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms primarily over the island of Kauai. During the early morning of April twelve, a band of heavy showers with embedded thunderstorms moved over the island of Kauai. There w…
Flash Flood · Jan 30, 2023. Radar and automated rain gauges indicated heavy rain, with rates of one to two inches per hour, had fallen over northern Kauai. Area river and stream gauges showed elevated flows.
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 Kauai 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.