695 flood insurance claims·$9.8M paid·1 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 Kankakee 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.
River flooding dominates Kankakee County, supported by 32 historical flood events compared to 24 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Recent occurrences include heavy rain and ice jams, such as an event in January 2025 when an ice jam on the Kankakee River near Momence caused river levels to crest over 6 feet and resulted in minor riverbank flooding. Similar conditions occurred in January 2024, when warming temperatures, melting snow and ice, and heavy rain produced localized river and flash flooding from an ice jam near Wilmington. December 2025 also brought localized flooding alongside severe thunderstorms and heavy rain.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed across multiple zones, with the highest concentration in high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 520 claims with an average payout of $19,702 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties located in Zone X_SHADED recorded 53 claims with an average payout of $10,109 and an average water depth of 5 inches, while Zone X recorded 42 claims averaging $18,229 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 41 claims with an average payout of $6,750 and an average water depth of 2 inches, and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 37 claims averaging $5,476 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents near rivers and within Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood risks given the concentration of historical claims and ice-jam vulnerabilities.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Kankakee County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
610 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 5 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 118 claims and $2.3M 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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Kankakee County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Illinois flood stories →
7 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 20, 2004 |
| Illinois Winter Snow Storms | Dec 11, 2000 |
| Winter Storm 1/1/99 | Jan 1, 1999 |
| Severe Storms & Flooding | Apr 26, 1973 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
56 since 1996: 24 flash floods and 32 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Dec 28, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 20, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 24, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 18, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 27, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 27, 2020 | — |
| Flood | May 23, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Dec 28, 2025. Severe thunderstorms moved across portions of central Illinois during the late morning of December 28th producing localized wind damage. Additional severe thunderstorms moved across parts of central Illinois during the afternoon producing additional wind damage and six tornadoes. Heavy rain also caused localized flooding.
Flood · Jan 20, 2025. An ice jam on the Kankakee River downstream from the gauge at Momence (MOMI2) resulted in minor flooding. Gauge heights rose drastically during the night of the 19th and into the 20th and reached minor flood stage during the afternoon of the 20th. It crested to over 6 feet, just below moderate flood stage, before receding and then falling below flood stage during the early morning of the 26th. An ice spotter repor…
Flood · Jan 26, 2024. Warming temperatures, melting snow and melting ice along with periods of heavy rain, caused river rises, localized flooding along rivers and flash flooding due to an ice jam near Wilmington.
Flood · Jan 24, 2024. Warming temperatures, melting snow and melting ice along with periods of heavy rain, caused river rises, localized flooding along rivers and flash flooding due to an ice jam near Wilmington.
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 Kankakee 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.