175 flood insurance claims·$3.0M paid·3 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 Kendall 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 profile in Kendall County, Illinois, supported by 20 flash flood events and 18 general flood events recorded over the last 30 years by the NOAA Storm Events Database. Recent severe impacts include an August 2025 series of thunderstorms that brought torrential rainfall and widespread flooding, causing water and storm damage to several Oswego District 308 schools as part of a regional event resulting in approximately $288 million in flood damages across the Chicago metro area. An additional round of torrential rainfall on August 18, 2025, produced further flash flooding with initial regional damage estimates around $8.8 million.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties in high-risk Zone A have filed 92 claims with an average payout of $26,062 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. However, flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas, with unshaded Zone X properties recording 43 claims averaging $16,549 and an average water depth of 7 inches, while shaded Zone X properties recorded 9 claims averaging $17,424 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located in Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas, where historical claims and average recorded water depths indicate the most significant financial and structural impacts from flood events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
36% of Kendall County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
144 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 7 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 1996, with 62 claims and $1.5M paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding.
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.
11 NOAA storm reports from Kendall County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Illinois flood stories →
13 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 16, 2013 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 13, 2008 |
| Snow | Nov 30, 2006 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Illinois Winter Snow Storms | Dec 11, 2000 |
| Winter Storm 1/1/99 | Jan 1, 1999 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jul 17, 1996 |
| Tornadoes | Aug 28, 1990 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
38 since 1996: 20 flash floods and 18 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 18, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2025 | $300,000 |
| Flood | Jul 15, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Sep 11, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 17, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 18, 2025. During the afternoon and evening of the 18th, a few rounds of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall to much of northern Illinois resulting in flash flooding. One particularly strong storm also produced damaging winds in DeKalb County. Initial reports estimate $8.8 million in flood damages around northern and northeast Illinois, and around $2.5 million in the city of Chicago alone.
Flash Flood · Aug 17, 2025. A series of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall and widespread flooding to much of the Chicago metro area, namely the south and west suburbs and up into the city of Chicago. Several Oswego District 308 schools received water and storm damage. Flood damages were estimated at around $288 million across the metro area, most of which came from the city of Chicago which alone accounted for roughly $230 million in…
Flood · Jul 15, 2024. A derecho moved across northern Illinois during the evening of July 15th producing widespread wind damage and 30 tornadoes in northeast Illinois. One of these tornadoes crossed into northwest Indiana. At the height of the storms, 430,000 customers lost power with some power not restored for four days, on July 19th.
Flood · Feb 22, 2022. Warm air spread across the area along with heavy rain and thunderstorms during the early morning of February 22nd. Some of the thunderstorms produced small hail. A cold front then moved into northern Illinois bringing freezing rain to far northern Illinois. The heavy rain caused localized flooding.||Ice accumulation amounts from the freezing rain included 0.15 inches in Woodstock; 0.10 inches at McCullom Lake,…
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 Kendall 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.