235 flood insurance claims·$2.1M paid
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 Champaign County, Illinois. 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 summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk in Champaign County, accounting for 64 of the last 30 years' 7 recorded flood events according to NOAA data. Recent events illustrate this pattern, including slow-moving storms on June 16, 2025, that produced 3 to 5 inches of rainfall and made several roads in the city of Champaign impassable, and clusters of storms on July 26, 2025, that brought hourly rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches to areas from southeast of Mahomet to Rantoul.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, with the highest volume occurring in Zone A with 156 claims averaging a payout of $11,382 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties in Zone X experienced 24 claims with an average payout of $12,388 and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches, while Zone X shaded recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $12,693 and an average water depth of 15 inches. Zone X unshaded saw 27 claims averaging $6,417 with an average depth of 4 inches, and unknown zones recorded 23 claims averaging $9,016 with an average depth of 2 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A, Zone X, and shaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to flood risk given the higher claim counts and deeper average water levels.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
17% of Champaign County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
188 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 6 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 2008, with 27 claims and $360,472 paid.
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.
32 NOAA storm reports from Champaign County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Illinois flood stories →
12 federal disaster declarations since 1968.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Nov 17, 2013 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Apr 21, 2002 |
| Winter Storm 1/1/99 | Jan 1, 1999 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 28, 1996 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 18, 1996 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 9, 1994 |
| Severe Ice Storm | Feb 14, 1990 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
71 since 1996: 64 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 26, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 24, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 4, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 19, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 22, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 26, 2025. An outflow boundary interacting with a warm and very humid environment triggered clusters of slow-moving thunderstorms across east-central Illinois during the evening of July 26th. Thanks to precipitable water values around 2.25 as per the 00z KILX upper air sounding, hourly rainfall rates of 2-3 inches occurred with the stronger storms. The hardest hit location was across portions of Champaign County from just…
Flash Flood · Jun 16, 2025. A slow-moving, isolated thunderstorm produced locally heavy rainfall of 3 to 5 inches in Champaign County, which resulted in several roads becoming impassable in the city of Champaign.
Flash Flood · Aug 30, 2024. A cold front interacting with a seasonably warm and moist environment triggered clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms across central Illinois during the afternoon and evening of August 30th. One cell dropped nickel-sized hail, while others produced wind gusts of around 60mph and minor wind damage. In addition, urban flash flooding occurred across portions of Springfield and Champaign. No road closures or w…
Flash Flood · May 24, 2024. On the morning of May 24th a low pressure system was located over the eastern Dakotas, with Illinois positioned in the warm sector. Over the course of the day, several rounds of thunderstorms occurred. First, a squall line tracked across Iowa and reached Illinois by the morning. The most intense part of this squall line tracked north of central Illinois, but the system did produce one instance of wind damage in St…
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 Champaign 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.